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| Name |
Brinker, C. Jeffrey |
| Location
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The University of New Mexico |
| Primary Field
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Engineering Sciences |
 Election Citation
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C. Jeffrey Brinker's laboratory studies how protocells, nanoparticles encapsulated within synthetic or natural lipid bilayer membranes, can be used as a drug delivery platform.
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Research Interests
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Brinker pioneered the field of sol-gel processing (materials synthesis from soluble molecular precursors), and his early work established the first comprehensive synthesis-structure-property relationships for sol-gel derived materials. Arguably this work, culminating with the publication of Sol-Gel Science (with co-author George Scherer) in 1990 created a foundation for much of modern day nanoscience and engineering. Building on this foundation the Brinker lab utilizes sol-gel processing methodologies often in combination with 'bottom-up' self-assembly or 'top down' atomic layer deposition to create new classes of porous and composite nano-to-macro structured materials in bulk, particle, and thin film forms. Several notable examples are: surface modification of silica gels enabling drying shrinkage to be reversible and the formation of aerogels without supercritical processing; the combination of sol-gel processing with evaporation induced surfactant self-assembly to create highly ordered mesoporous silica films and nanoparticles used throughout the world for applications in membranes, dielectrics, catalysis, and drug delivery; intra- and extra-cellular encapsulation within nanoscopic silica coatings to create cellular replicas with preserved antigens serving as vaccines. In 2009 Brinker's group reported on mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with cargos and encapsulated within a supported lipid bilayer as a new biomimetic drug delivery platform named 'protocell'. Today nanoparticles encapsulated within synthetic or natural lipid bilayer membranes represent leading candidates for next generation nanomedicines and are a major focus of his research.
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