Lifeng Yan
University of Science and Technology of China, China
Biography
Lifeng Yan has graduated in Physical Chemistry from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2001, and now is a Full Professor of USTC. His research focuses on carbon materials for energy conversion and storage, biomass conversion and green chemistry, and biomaterials and biomedicine based on polymers. He has published over 160 papers and edited three books.
Abstract
Fluorescent dye molecules with emission wavelength ranging from visible to near infrared could be used as a chromophore for in vitro tumor diagnostics. But the optimal and now commercially available fluorescent dyes are those whose emission lies in the near infrared region (NIR). Pronounced background auto fluorescence and severe tissue absorption and scattering greatly limit the application of dyes with emission in the visible region, while their interferences with long wavelength light are minimal. Nanotheranostics is a combination of nanomaterials and theranostics, which is an attractive candidate for a diverse range of imaging-guided therapy applications. Polymeric nanoparticles responsive to external pH stimuli have attracted much attention for a wide range of applications, especially in biology, such as imaging-guided drug delivery, molecular sensing, tissue engineering, etc. Polypeptide materials are one kind of biodegradable material with potential application in biomedical areas. They can be facilely obtained by the ring opening polymerization of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCA). Natural amino acids with various side groups provide the possibility for the preparation of polypeptide materials with versatile structures and properties. Recently, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has attracted much attention in cancer therapy in the presence of a photosensitizer which generates singlet oxygen reactive oxygen species (ROS) to kill the cell. We prepared a series of NIR photosensitizer with high yield of ROS and fluorescence, and various polypeptide based nanoparticles has also been designed and synthesized, which make it possible for NIR imaging-guided PDF.