Richard A. Walton Lecture in Inorganic Chemistry

Gold nanoparticles exhibit brilliant colors that are size- and shape-dependent. In addition to their strong absorption of light through the visible and near-infrared, these nanomaterials elastically scatter light, and generate local electric fields and heat under resonant illumination. Many scientists are using these materials as active materials for bioimaging, chemical sensing, and photothermal ablation of tumors. However, as more and more nanomaterials become useful for biomedical applications, concerns about their long-term effects on living systems have been raised. In this talk I will discuss how these nanoparticles are prepared, how their surface chemistry can be tuned, how apparent cytotoxicity can be traced back to reagents in the synthesis rather than the particles per se, how protein orientation can be controlled on their surfaces, how cells respond to these virus-sized objects, and how the photothermal properties of these nanomaterials enable potential drug delivery applications.

Professor Murphy received two B.S. degrees, one in chemistry and one in biochemistry, from the University of Illinois in 1986. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1990. From 1990-1993, she was first an NSF and then an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. From 1993-2009 Professor Murphy was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina. In August 2009 she joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois.

Department of Chemistry Richard A. Walton Lecture in Inorganic Chemistry

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Catherine J. Murphy (2020), "Golden Opportunities: Gold Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications," https://nanohub.org/resources/32078.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. bioimaging
2. chemical sensing/sensors
3. chemistry
4. drug delivery
5. gold nanorods
6. Imaging
7. joes picks
8. nano/bio
9. nanoparticles
10. nanorods
11. optical properties
12. plasmonics
13. sensors/sensing
14. surfaces
15. synthesis
16. Tumors