Thomas J Webster

Title : Nanomedicine for Treating Neurological Disorders: Small Materials for Big Problems

Abstract:

Nanomedicine has already revolutionized medicine. This is because nanomaterials can mimic the size of natural components of tissue to increase tissue growth, inhibit infection, and limit inflammation. The surface energy of nanomaterials can also be easily controlled to in turn mediate initial protein adsorption that can promote neuron function. This presentation will summarize how nanomaterials can be designed, fabricated, and used to stimulate neuronal cell function to treat numerous neurological disorders. Specifically, as just one nanomaterial example, carbon nanotubes were implanted with stem cells into stroke-induced rat brains and demonstrated statistically faster return of motor function compared to stem cells alone. Impressively, carbon nanotube implantation alone into stroke-induced rats returned motor function faster than stem cells alone after as early as 7 days. This presentation will cover other nanomaterials that can improve neuronal cell function and describe critical studies needed for the field of neurological nanomedicine to grow and reach the clinic.

What will audience learn from your presentation?

• How nanomaterials can increase tissue growth, decrease infection, and inhibit inflammation
• How nanomaterials can be used to treat neurological problems of stroke, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and others
• How to create nanomaterials for improving disease prevention, detection, and therapy

Biography:

Thomas J. Webster’s (H index: 121; Google Scholar) degrees are in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh (B.S., 1995; USA) and in biomedical engineering from RPI (Ph.D., 2000; USA). He has served as a professor at Purdue (2000-2005), Brown (2005-2012), and Northeastern (2012-2021; serving as Chemical Engineering Department Chair from 2012 - 2019) Universities and has formed over a dozen companies who have numerous FDA approved medical products currently improving human health.  He is currently helping those companies and serves as a professor at Hebei University of Technology, Saveetha University, Vellore Institute of Technology, UFPI, and others.  Dr. Webster has numerous awards including: 2020, World Top 2% Scientist by Citations (PLOS); 2020, SCOPUS Highly Cited Research (Top 1% Materials Science and Mixed Fields); 2021, Clarivate Top 0.1% Most Influential Researchers (Pharmacology and Toxicology); 2022, Best Materials Science Scientist by Citations (Research.com); and is a fellow of over 8 societies.  Prof. Webster is a former President of the U.S. Society For Biomaterials and has over 1,350 publications to his credit with over 53,000 citations. He was recently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2023).