BME Seminar: Nancy Xu
Monday, February 6, 2023 - 12:00 p.m.
Nancy Xu
Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Sciences, Biochemistry and Chemistry
Old Dominion University
"New NanoBiotechnology for Biomedical Innovations"
Keating 103
Live Zoom link | Passcode: BearDown
(Instructor permission is required for enrolled students to attend via Zoom)
Hosts: Dr. Beth Hutchinson and Dr. Shang Song
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation by contacting the Disability Resource Center at 621-3268 (V/TTY).
ABSTRACT: Single cells are the building blocks of all living organisms. Understanding of functions of individual live cells and their communications is essential to rationally designing effective diagnoses and therapeutics. New tools for detecting and targeting specific individual cells would revolutionize disease diagnosis and treatments. Single live cells also offer unique inspiration for the rational design of biocompatible ad bio-inspired smart materials and devices for bioengineering innovation (e.g., self-powered, self-repaired, self-assembled, self-replicated “live” robots). To achieve these transformative potentials, it is crucial to depict and control how individual live cells function and communicate in cell culture, tissues, live animals, and ultimately in humans in real time at single-cell resolution. Current tools are unable to real-time study and control the molecular machinery of single live cells with adequate quantitation, spatial and temporal resolutions and over an extended period of time. We have pioneered the development of a set of powerful new
nanobiotechnologies, including photostable single plasmonic nanoparticle imaging probes, single molecular assays, single molecule nanoparticle optical biosensors (SMNOBS), and far-field photostable optical nanoscopy (PHOTON). Dr. Xu has demonstrated that these new tools can overcome the drawbacks of fluorescence-based imaging platforms for dynamic, single-molecule and multiplexing imaging of single live cells with superior temporal and spatial resolutions and over a desired extended period of time (hours, days, weeks). She has used these new tools to real-time study and direct: (i) molecular cascades of signaling transduction pathways of single live cells; (ii) molecular mechanisms of multidrug resistance of single live cells; (iii) efficacies of individual drug nanocarriers; (iv) native environments of developing embryos and differentiation of embryonic stem cells into cardiomyocytes and neurons; and (v) rare subsets of single cancer stem cells (CSCs) in clinical tissues for exploring a new paradigm of early cancer detection and targeted therapy. Dr. Xu is currently developing new nanobiophotonics sensing and imaging platforms for real-time large-scale recording and modulation of neuron-neuron communication, aiming to understand how the brain develops and functions and to effectively detect, diagnose, and treat brain diseases (e.g., imaging-guided targeted therapy). In this seminar, she will describe these new nanobiotechnologies and their innovative biomedical applications. The work has been supported by NIH and NSF.
BIO: Dr. X. Nancy Xu is an elected AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) fellow and professor of biomedical engineering, biomedical sciences, biochemistry, and chemistry at Old Dominion University (ODU). During her tenure at ODU, Dr. Xu has built a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research laboratory and successfully developed a nationally and internationally recognized and well-funded interdisciplinary research program at the intersection of biology, chemistry, engineering, and medicine. Dr. Xu has successfully directed NSF and NIH-funded interdisciplinary research programs and she has demonstrated a track record of accomplishments in successfully competing for highly prestigious federal research grants, including NSF NIRT, NSF BRAIN Initiative, NIH R01, and DoD MURI awards.
Dr. Xu has pioneered the development of a set of powerful new nanobiophotonics tools for biomedical applications, and she has made distinguished contributions to the fields of sensing, imaging, nanobiotechnology, and ultrasensitive bioanalysis. She is well recognized for her pioneering work in single nanoparticle optics, nano-optical biosensors, single molecule detection, and single-live cell imaging. Dr. Xu holds a worldwide patent on DNA biosensors and has consistently published her work in high-impact peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Xu has led and developed a curriculum for an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in biomedical sciences. She has developed several new graduate and undergraduate courses and she has taught 26 different courses on topics that include advanced techniques in clinical chemistry, advanced techniques in biochemistry, biosensing, single-cell imaging, nanobiotechnology and neurotechnology. She has edited a book for a campus-wide interdisciplinary course on New Frontiers in Nanobiotechnology and reviewed undergraduate textbooks.