Technical Programme - Materials Research Society of Singapore ...

ICMAT 2009 and IUMRS - ICA 2009 Technical Programme
Theme Lecture 1
Monday, 29 June 2009
13:00 – 13:45 hrs
Level 2, Ballroom
Chair:
Andy HOR
National University of Singapore, Singapore
James L. HEDRICK
IBM Research, San Jose, CA, USA
Hierarchical Supermolecular Structures for Sustained
Drug Release
The targeting and controlled release of therapeutic agents
or probe molecules to specifi c organs and specifi c cells
in the body is one of the major challenges in developing
more effective therapies. Central to this goal are the many
materials challenges associated with the encapsulation,
transport and release of such agents at a specifi c time
and place in the exceedingly complicated and dynamic
environment of living organisms. Living organisms have
evolved a variety of interfaces and barriers to control the
traffi cking of small and large molecules in and out of
cells, organs and tissues. Many pathologies are associated
with the encapsulation, transport and release of foreign
agents into healthy cells (viral and bacterial infections).
An understanding of these processes is critical to the
illumination of the molecular mechanism of disease, but
also provides a guide to developing strategies to deliver
therapeutic agents to specifi c cells and tissues. Nature’s
ability to assemble macromolecules into highly cooperative
and functional assemblies provides an inspiration for our
efforts do devise synthetic design criteria to interrogate
and exploit the relationship between molecular structure,
non-covalent interactions and processing conditions to
create new functional macromolecular assemblies.
Our program approaches a set of clustered problems of
fundamental and therapeutic interest. We have developed
modular self-assembly strategies to investigate the use
of non-covalent interactions to assemble multifunctional
assemblies that can encapsulate small molecules and
probes, and exhibit responsive behavior to external
stimuli. The foundation for this platform is based on our
organocatalytic approach to biocompatible/degradable
macromolecules with precisely defi ned molecular weights,
end-group fi delity and backbone functionality.
pg 40
Theme Lectures
Theme Lecture 2
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
13:00 – 13:45 hrs
Level 2, Ballroom
Chair:
Seeram RAMAKRISHNA
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Martyn POLIAKOFF
The School of Chemistry, The University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom
Supercritical Fluids: Clean solvents for Cleaner
Materials
Supercritical fl uids are gases such as CO2 or steam,
compressed until they are nearly as dense as liquids. In this
state, they show an intriguing combination of properties
normally associated with gases and liquids. In this lecture,
I outline some recent applications of supercritical fl uids
from our own laboratories and elsewhere for the cleaner
preparation of materials including thin fi lms, nanoparticles
and gas inclusion compounds.
I thank my colleagues, coworkers and collaborators,
particularly those in AstraZeneca, the SI Group,
Promethean Particles Ltd, Thomas Swan & Co Ltd and
INVISTA Performance Technologies for their help and
support. We are grateful for funding from the EPSRC, EU
Marie Curie Programme and the Royal Society.