Self-Assembly and Crystallization in Nanoscale Confinement
| Category | Publications |
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| Abstract | This supplement has supported a graduate student from Dr. Guangzhao Mao's research group at Wayne State University, Ms. Jenifer Blacklock, to conduct research in Dr. Helmuth Möhwald’s research group at Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam Germany. Dr. Möhwald’s research focuses on the nanoconfinement effect on molecular self-assembly, which impacts molecular electronics, drug delivery, and high-throughput screening. The central hypothesis of the project is when the confinement size is less than the critical nucleus size, the confinement will alter the selfassembled structure. Blacklock conducted a three-month research study in summer 2007 to encapsulate aspirin in the layer-by-layer (LbL) thin films with chemical heterogeneity mimicking the lipid bilayer. She utilized the unique characterization facilities at the host institution for the study of drug permeability in the thin films. Aspirin was shown to diffuse into the DMPC bilayer supported on the LbL thin films. The thin film structure was studied by quartz crystal microbalance. In addition, Ms. Blacklock conducted experiments with regards to the controlled release of DNA from the LbL thin films. The controlled release was accomplished by the use of disulfide-containing reducible polycations. It was determined that DNA release was altered by the presence of a top DMPC bilayer. This part of the work was conducted with ellipsometry, neutron scattering as well as the quartz crystal microbalance |
| Contributor | Mourad Ouzzani
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| Bio | Guangzhao Mao received the B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Nanjing University (P. R. China) in 1988. She received her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Minnesota in 1994. Following a 9-month postdoctoral research in Materials Science at University of Minnesota in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, she joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University as an Assistant Professor. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2001 and Full Professor in 2007. Her research interests include templated crystallization, nanoparticle thin films, and non-viral gene delivery systems.
Jenifer Blacklock received the B.Sc. degrees in Manufacturing Engineering and in Engineering Management from Miami University Ohio. She obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Wayne State University with a M.Sc. thesis on "Layer-by-Layer Assembly for Controlled Release" in May 2006. She is currently a Ph.D. student at Wayne State University. |
| Sponsored By | NSF CBET-553533 |
| Cite this work | Researchers should cite this work as follows: Jenifer Blacklock and Guangzhao Mao, "Self-Assembly and Crystallization in Nanoscale Confinement", Trip report presented at the NSF IREE 2007 Grantees Conference, October 30 - November 1, 2007, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana |
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