Re: Nanomaterials in drug delivery and cancer
Irshad Hussain: Irshad Hussain received PhD degree from The University of Liverpool, UK, in 2005 on the synthesis of metal nanoparticles and their subsequent use as building blocks to design and fabricate new materials such as porous metals, nanocompsoites, nanochains and polyelectrolyte-metal nanoparticle films etc. Before his PhD, he has been working at National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, to workout biotechnological solutions to various environmental problems. He had also worked in the group of Professor Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman and Professor Dr. M. Iqbal Chaudhary at HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry (HEJRIC) during 1994-95, immediately after his MSc from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.Dr. Hussain is the pioneer to develop nanobiotech research in Pakistan and has already established a nanobiotech group at NIBGE to develop the synthesis of metal nanoparticles and explore their applications in biotechnology and advanced materials fabrication. He has published several research articles in prominent journals including Nature Materials, Advanced Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Small, ChemCommun and Langmuir etc. He has delivered several lectures at national and international forums to highlight the potentials of nanotechnology in various disciplines with particular reference to his own research achievements in this emerging field. His current research interests include synthesis and applications of metal/semi-conductor nanoparticles/quantum dots in disease diagnostics and treatment, catalysis and new materials fabrication. In 2007, Dr. Hussain was awarded a Professor Atta-ur-Rehman Gold Medal/Prize in chemistry to acknowledge his achievements in this field during the last five years. Current impact factor of Dr. Hussain is 82 with a citation of over 200. On-going research: In addition to his current assignments at LUMS SSE, Dr. Hussain is also guiding his previous nanobiotech research group at NIBGE on the synthesis of metal nanoparticles and to explore their applications in PCR diagnostics, fingerprinting, gene delivery and catalysis etc.