Professor P A Hassan will be delivering a Research Seminar Series lecture on 'Modulating Self Assembly: From microstructure control to surface modifications' at the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Abstract
Self-assembled structures such as micelles, liposomes, niosomes, emulsions and microemulsions have attracted a great deal of attention in pharmaceutical and cosmetic formulations. Drug delivery systems employing such colloidal carriers enhance the efficacy and drug safety thereby leading to improved therapeutics. Self-assembly offers an attractive route to create novel nanostructured soft materials and modify the interface of inorganic materials.  The role of intermolecular interactions in modulating the microstructure of self-assembled materials and its applications in creating functional nanostructures will be discussed. In particular, we explored this strategy to make polyethene glycol functionalized carriers for noncovalent binding of drugs or proteins. Stimuli-sensitive assemblies that can reversibly associate or dissociate in response to environmental changes have been fabricated, as a model system for self-regulated drug delivery vehicle. Formation of 2-D assemblies at the interface of inorganic particles has been explored to create organic-inorganic composite materials for anticancer drug delivery. Combination of chemotherapy, hyperthermia and diagnostic applications of peptide-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles was identified. The present findings on the microstructure and drug delivery aspects of various materials created via self-assembly will have important implications in designing stimuli-sensitive drug delivery systems.

About the Speaker
Professor P A Hassan earned his MSc Degree in Chemistry from Nirmala College, Muvatuupuzha (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam). In 1992, he joined the prestigious Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School. Currently, he is Head of the Thermal & Interfacial Chemistry Section, Chemistry Division, BARC. He was a visiting researcher at the Laboratory of Complex Fluids, University of Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France in 1995. He pursued his post-doctoral research on the soft condensed matter at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware, the USA in 2000-2002 and visited the National Centre for Neutron Research, NIST, Maryland, USA. His current research interests include structural transitions in micelles, liposomes, polymers, polyelectrolyte-surfactant interactions and biotechnological applications of nanomaterials.