John Farley's Research Interest
Exploratory experiments in biological nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is an important emerging interdisciplinary field, combining physics, chemistry, and material science. Materials and structures whose dimensions are in the range 1-100 nm often have novel properties, different from either bulk material or individual molecules.
One area within nanotechnology is bio-nanotechnology. Many biological systems are examples of nanotechnology in action. Viruses, for example, are on the right length scale as nanotechnology. One exciting possibility is using biological systems to make novel materials on the nano scale.
We plan to make novel materials, using the embryonic tooth buds of zebrafish, which are small tropical fish commonly raised as pets. The tooth buds are from embryos – i.e., from eggs that have not yet hatched. The embyonic tooth buds are so small that they must be manipulated using a dissecting microscope. We will attempt to make new materials using embyonic tooth buds in tissue culture. The goal is to make nanostructured material that can be used as improved prosthetic material for replacement of teeth and/or bone.
Students will learn to characterize the embryonic tooth buds using the techniques of surface microscopy that have been used in my research group for the study of corrosion of metals. Students will use the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS), which reveal the structure and elemental composition of material on the nanoscale.
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