Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Despite the many advances which have occurred over the past century, society will be faced with daunting challenges in biomedicine, forensic and security (fingerprint detection, tagging of explosives and anti forgery of documents) unless major scientific and technological breakthroughs are fostered. These challenges, may benefit from nanotechnology, including identifying the molecular origins of many disease and early detection, both of which are paramount to effective treatment. Many of the challenges will depend on understanding the properties and behavior of aggregate of atoms and molecules at a scale where properties differ significantly from those at the larger scale and on the synthesis of new nanomaterials. The overriding objective of our research program is the synthesis of lanthanide doped upconverting nanoparticles and to characterize their photophysical, structural and chemical properties. An upconverting phosphor is excited by infra red radiation(low energy) directly, leading to visible or UV emission(high energy). The use of infra red radiation is advantageous since it is less harmful to cells, penetrates tissue to a greater extent and virtually eliminates autofluorescence. Thus, making these materials ideal for bioimaging. These lanthanide doped nanomaterials may also be an ideal platform for multi modal activities such as optical imaging, therapeutics and MRI. This is possible since these materials may be doped with different lanthanide ions.