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Designing materials for advanced therapeutics and ultrasensitive biosensing
Molly Stevens (Imperial College London)
In this talk I will discuss highlights of our nanomedicine portfolio including nanosensors for diagnosing and monitoring infectious and non-communicable diseases [1], and high molecular weight polymer carriers for enhanced delivery of saRNA therapeutics [2]. I will present advances in Raman spectroscopy for high-throughput label-free characterization of single nanoparticles (SPARTA™) that allow us to integrally analyse a broad range bio-nanomaterials such as polymer particles, liposomes and extracellular vesicles without any modification [3]. SPARTA™ has become an integral tool for the design of nanotherapeutics, with recent examples including DOPC-containing lipid nanoparticles for nucleic acid delivery and dendrimersome-based systems for controlled delivery of antibacterial drugs, and for profiling extracellular vesicles (EVs) for detection of breast cancer through a minimally invasive liquid biopsy. I will also discuss our cell interfacing nanoneedle platforms for multiplexed intracellular biosensing at sub-cellular resolution and modulation of biological processes [4]. I will explore how these versatile technologies can be applied to transformative biomedical innovations.
[1] C. S. Wood, … M. M. Stevens. Nature. 2019. 566: 467-474.; C. N. Loynachan, … M. M. Stevens. Nature Nanotechnology. 2019. 14: 883–890.; M. Broto, … M. M. Stevens. Nature Nanotechnology. 2022. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-022-01179-0.
[2] A. Blakney, … M. M. Stevens. ACS Nano. 2020, 14(5): 5711-5727.
[3] J. Penders, … M. M. Stevens. Nature Communications. 2018, 9: 4256.; J. Penders, … M. M. Stevens. ACS Nano. 2021, 15, 11, 18192–18205; H. Barriga, … M. M. Stevens. Advanced Materials. 2021, 34(26):2200839.
[4] C. Chiappini, … M. M. Stevens, E. Tasciotti. Nature Materials. 2015, 14: 532.
Prof Molly M Stevens FREng FRS is Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine and the Research Director for Biomedical Material Sciences in the Department of Materials, in the Department of Bioengineering and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. She graduated with a First-Class Honours BPharm degree from Bath University in 1995 and a PhD from the University of Nottingham in 2001. After postdoctoral research in the Langer Lab at MIT, she joined Imperial College London in 2004 as a lecturer and was promoted to Professor in 2008 as one of the youngest Professors ever in the history of the institution.
Molly’s multidisciplinary research balances the investigation of fundamental science with the development of technology to address some of the major healthcare challenges. Her work has been instrumental in elucidating the bio-material interfaces. She has created a broad portfolio of designer biomaterials for applications in disease diagnostics and regenerative medicine. Her substantial body of work influences research groups around the world (>400 publications, h-index 98, >39k citations, 2018 and 2021 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher in Cross-Field research).
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