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Zhang receives NIH Funding
Dr. Qunwei Zhang
Congratulations to Dr. Qunwei Zhang. He has received a $450,000 grant over three years from the National Institutes of Health – National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for a project titled: The role of microRNA miR-21 in nickel nanoparticles-induced MMPs production.
With the development of nanotechnology, a large number of metal nanoparticles are being developed and produced with new formulations and surface properties to meet novel demands.
For example, as an important transition metal, nickel nanoparticles (Nano-Ni) have wide ranging applications in the fields of batteries, electrical conductors, permanent magnets, magnetic fluids, magnetic recording media, solar energy absorption, fuel cell electrodes, and catalysts. In addition, due to structural and inherent chemical and physical properties, nickel alloy nanomaterials have received special interest in biomedical applications. As the use of nanomaterials continues to grow, the risk of environmental contamination by nanoparticles increases.
The term ‘Nanotoxicology’ has been used to put forward the concept that nanoparticles might represent a unique class of particulate toxins that differ from conventional pathogenic particles. In this proposal, we selected Nano-Ni as a model metal nanoparticles because of its wide industrial interest and biological and medical applications.
