Monday, 5 September 5:30pm – 6:30pm

This seminar will be delivered in Chemistry Lecture Theatre 3 and Online Zoom Please email chemistry.researchsupport@sydney.edu.au for zoom link and password.

Speaker: Prof. Martina Stenzel; UNSW

Host: Prof. Liz New

Title: Metals and Polymers – a perfect match for better nanomedicine

Abstract: Metals are widely used in medicine. Metal implants often come to mind, but metals have found entry into medicine as diagnostic or therapeutic agents. This is not a new invention and metal nanoparticles such as colloidal gold have been administered since ancient times to treat diseases, often with little success. However, today’s metal compounds are based on our understanding of modern medicine. It has been around 50 years now since Rosenberg developed an anti-cancer agent based on a metal complexes, cisplatin, which is now one of the most used anti-cancer agent. Since then, metal complexes and metal nanoparticles have matured and they serve various areas in medicine. While these inorganic compounds by themselves are already highly effective, the marriage with polymers can enhance their use. In this presentation we will learn how attaching metal complexes to polymer can enhance their delivery, but we will also explore how polymer coating of inorganic nanoparticles will help to delivery a range of other anti-cancer drugs while the inorganic nanoparticles can help us to understand the distribution in the body.