They’re a million times smaller than a hair follicle on your head.
But they can be used to solve some of our biggest problems.
Dr. Sherine Obare has spent her career studying nanomaterials – natural and manmade substances that can be measured in nanometers – and their real-world applications.
The new dean of the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering leads a research team that explores how nanomaterials can be used to address some of society’s most pressing issues: antibiotic resistance, food safety, and environmental pollution, to name a few.
Over the last decade, Obare has secured more than $5 million in federal grants to advance the emerging field of nanotechnology.
“Nanotech has the ability to change the way we address different types of problems because it brings an integrated approach,” Obare explains. “When you’re making a nanomaterial, you start with the fundamentals of chemistry. When you’re trying to understand how a nanomaterial behaves, physics comes into play. We use these materials to address health and environmental challenges.”
In one project, Obare is applying this integration of the sciences to search for innovative solutions to antibiotic resistance.
A common approach to combating antibiotic resistance is to create new drugs. However, it takes approximately 10 years for a drug to go through the development and FDA approval process. When it’s a matter of life or death, that’s too long to wait.
Nanomaterials could offer a faster, cheaper solution. Combining non-toxic nanomaterials with antibiotics, Obare says, can create new delivery methods for life-saving drugs that overcome the processes bacteria use to become resistant.
“We’re using the same old drugs, but in ways that trick the bacteria – we’re bypassing their usual resistance methods,” she says.
