Dr. Daniel A. Heller, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065

One of the most promising applications of nanotechnology is in the measurement of biological analytes. New methods are needed to image and quantify disease biomarkers and other biological molecules. Nanomaterials could lead to better therapies, earlier cancer detection, and better tools for biomedical research. The real-time and spatially-resolved detection and identification of bioanalytes in biological media present important goals for next-generation nanoscale materials.

 Towards this end, certain low-dimensional nanomaterials offer impressive photophysical properties, such as high photostability, near-infrared emission, narrow spectral bandwidths, and unique environmental sensitivity. To build biomedical technologies using these materials, a better understanding of their properties, as well as new methods to measure them, are needed.

My laboratory is exploring the intrinsic near-infrared fluorescence of single-walled carbon nanotubes. To build optical probes using these materials, we developed new imaging techniques to detect nanotube emission in biological environments and new materials to control their optical properties. Our goal is to develop new tools to allow biologists to ask previously unanswerable questions and to give clinicians better information about their patients.

Bio:

Dr. Daniel Heller is an Assistant Member at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College. His work focuses on nanoscale technologies, including optical biosensors for cancer research and diagnosis, and targeted nanoparticles to treat metastatic cancer. Dr. Heller obtained a BA in history from Rice University in 2000 and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 2010. He completed a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the laboratory of Robert Langer at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and is a 2012 recipient of the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award and a 2015 Kavli Fellow

Site web du groupe du Dr Heller

Cette conférence est présentée par le RQMP Versant Nord du Département de physique de l'Université de Montréal et le Département de génie physique de Polytechnique Montréal.