2008 Brain Star Award Recipients - Betty Kim and Wen Jiang
Recipients
Betty Kim - Biosketch
PhD (Candidate)
Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
University of Toronto
and
Wen Jiang
Neurosurgical Resident, PGY 4
University of Toronto
Article
W Jiang, BYS Kim (co-first author), JT Rutka, WCW Chan. Nanoparticle-mediated cellular response is size-dependent. Nature Nanotechnology, 3: 140-145, 2008
Significance of the paper
A successful use of engineered nanoparticles in clinical medicine requires the understanding of the underlying interactions between nanostructures and cells. In this manuscript, we investigated the molecular interactions at the nanoscale between cell membrane receptors and nanoparticles of varying physical dimensions. We show that nanoparticles can control basic cell functions by virtue of their size alone.
This is the first study to demonstrate the ability to precisely control intracellular signaling processes using the physicochemical properties of nanoscale materials. This paper demonstrates that nanomaterials should no longer be viewed as passive carriers, but rather, as active mediators for tuning cellular responses. Due to the significance of our research paper, Nature Nanotechnology dedicated an article in the same issue for our work.
The results of this study will likely affect many areas of neuroscience research. In particular, the ability to modify cell death states using nanoparticles has significant implications in the field of neurodegenerative and cancer research. Also, by manipulating the cellular response rates, engineered nanoparticles can be specifically targeted to infectious and autoimmune processes, functioning as efficient designer agents to tune molecular processes. Finally, the balance between biocompatibility and cytotoxicity might be directly related to how cells perceive nanostructures in a temporally and spatially defined manner. The elucidation of such intricate interactions is a great step forward for the advancement of many research fields, including neurosciences research.