Nano-Technology & Health Lab (NHL)

Our lab has two major research foci: (1) sustainable development of Nanotechnology-based products to solve emerging public health concerns including Zika disease, microbial resistance, water quality issue, and cancer; and (2) understanding environmental health and safety (nano-EHS) of the engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) and nano-based products through toxicity and risk analysis. Tools such as QSAR, multivariate statistical modeling, Vensim, electron/light/ fluorescence microscopies, dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), UV-Vis spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma-mass scpectroscopy (ICP-MS), tangential flow filtration (TFF), dialysis, voltammetry, and other surface analytical spectroscopies are routinely employed in our research for primary data collection. Transdisciplinary collaborations with students and scientists from institutions within and outside the U.S. contribute to our research effort. 

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 Select projects in this line of research include:

I. Nano-Technology Development

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1. Sustainable nano-based filters as point-of-use (POU) water purification device for poor economies. Issues related to water supply (quality and quantity) and identifying sustainable solutions will be central to mankind in the changing world. Work is underway toward developing biodegradable, low-cost bio-nano filter systems with potential to provide potable water that is safe for human consumption and crop production as well. We also have renewed interest in better understanding factors influencing lead and Legionella contamination of our drinking water supplies. 

 

2. Antimicrobial nanomaterials to tackle microbial resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health threat, and the need to developing potent antimicrobials cannot be over-stressed. Research is underway toward designing and developing nano-based antimicrobials that are effective against resistant bacteria but are non-toxic to humans.

 

3. ​Ecofriendly hybrid nano-construct for controlling Zika vector, Aedes aegypti. Ae. aegypti mosquito is a primary vector of pandemic Zika virus disease (ZVD). Work is underway toward developing surface-modified nano-construct that is effective at low-dose against the mosquito vector, Ae. aegypti. This research has far-reaching implications as the nano-construct can be adapted to developing other low-dose insecticides and herbicides that are both ecofriendly and sustainable.

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4. Novel nano-platforms as cancer therapeutics. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major factor in the failure of chemotherapy against advanced and metastatic cancers including breast, lung and ovarian cancers. Drug inactivation and low drug delivery efficiency to targeted cells/tissues are known to be among the many factors leading to MDR and treatment failure. Literature review is underway to better understand mechanisms underpinning MDR, which shall inform our future research direction toward the development of nano-therapeutics against cancer and MDR. 

 

II. Nano-Environmental Health and Safety (Nano-EHS) Research

Understanding potential exposure, toxicity and risk of the released ENMs in the environment is critical for the sustainable development of nano-enable products and Nanotechnology. Using multi-pronged approach for characterizing ENMs in various environmental matrices, and probing ENM properties such as surface chemistry, transformation/speciation products, dissolution kinetics, biouptake and toxicity, we are making significant progress toward understanding nano-bio interactions and structure-activity relationships (SAR) using robust statistical models.

 

Through nano-technology development and EHS research, our overall goal of this line of research is to protect public health and the environment.

 

Principal Investigator: Lok Pokhrel, PhD

Contact email: POKHRELL18@ECU.EDU