Metal Nanostructures with Desired Properties for Clinical Diagnostics

Nanostructures made of noble metals (including Au, Ag, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ir and Ru) are finding widespread use ranging from biomedicine to energy production, electronics, and environmental protection. Controlled synthesis is one of the most effective strategies for precisely tailoring their physicochemical properties and thus optimizing their performance in certain applications. In the first part of this talk, I will introduce our recent studies on rational design and experimental synthesis of noble-metal nanocrystals with well-controlled shapes, sizes, and elemental compositions at the atomic level. In the second part, I will discuss our work on the applications of engineered metal nanostructures in clinical diagnostics. Examples of ultrasensitive and easy-to-use diagnostic techniques and their use in detecting cancer biomarkers from human blood samples will be highlighted.

Biography: Dr. Xiaohu Xia has been a tenure-track Assistant Professor at University of Central Florida (UCF) since May 2018. Prior to his appointment at UCF, he worked at Michigan Tech as an assistant professor from 2014 to 2018 and at Georgia Tech as a postdoctoral fellow from 2012 to 2014. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2017). His research interests include the design and synthesis of novel nanostructures and exploration of their applications in biomedicine and catalysis. So far, he has published 49 papers in peer-reviewed journals that have been cited over 4,000 times. In his independent career, his research work has been highlighted by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Chemical & Engineering (C&EN) News.