Using Quantum Dots in Biological and Clinical Applications

Dr. Andrew Smith at UIUC visited UMBC last Friday to give the ME S-STEM scholars a research seminar.  Dr. Smith's talk was focused on using quantum dots (a type of nanoparticles) for imaging biological processes and for diagnosing disease.  Several videos were shared during the talk to understand motions of intracellular and plasma membrane proteins in living cells, via light-emitting quantum dots attached to those specific proteins.  Students also learned how the real-time images recorded were analyzed using engineering mathematical tools to identify disease associated molecules, especially for screening cancer cells leading to metastasis, as well as testing newly developed therapeutic drugs for treating cancer, Alzheimer, or obesity.  Dr. Smith answers many questions asked by the students.  Dr. Smith also shared information on many research opportunity at UIUC and encouraged our scholars to apply.