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 invited presentation will summarize how nanomaterials can be designed, fabricated, and used to inhibit infection for numerous applications including stimulate neuronal cell function to treat numerous neurological disorders. Results from over 45,000 patients will be presented. Specifically, as just one nanomaterial example, spinal screws with nanoscale surface features were implanted into over 45,000 patients and no reports of infections were found. Moreover, as another 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. Moreover, neural probes have been modified to have nanoscale surface features that reduce glial scar tissue formation and infection without the use of drugs or antibiotics. Moreover, 4D printed materials (materials that can change shape remotely and with respect to time) have been used to deliver stem cells to the brain to treat numerous disorders. This presentation will cover other nanomaterials that can improve medical device function and describes human clinical studies with very promising results.
Biography:
Thomas J. Webster’s (H index: 129) 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 formed over a dozen companies who have numerous FDA approved medical products currently improving human health in over 30,000 patients. His technology is also being used in commercial products to improve sustainability and renewable energy. He is currently helping those companies and serves as a professor at Brown University, Saveetha University, Hebei University 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 55,000 citations. He was recently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Prof. Webster also recently formed a fund to support Nigerian student research opportunities in the U.S.
