Breaking the Wall of Medical Imprecision | Adah Almutairi

How Responsive Nanomaterials Take Medicine to the Next Level Adah Almutairi, Falling Walls 2014. Associate Professor, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of NanoEngineering; Director of the joint KACST- UC San Diego Center of Excellence in Nanomedicine and Engineering. Self-destruction mechanisms are not only a frequent feature of action movies, they are also the next big thing in nanomedicine. Think of tiny capsules that overcome complex barriers of the body and eventually dissolve, releasing substances to specific places – and at specific times. From self-healing materials, to nutrients, drugs, fat-burners and fragrances – smart polymers, nanoparticles, and hydrogels have a wide range of therapeutic, diagnostic, or cosmetic applications. Adah Almutairi, who has received recognitions like the NIH New Innovator Award, is a specialist in bioresponsive materials and leads an interdisciplinary research team at UC San Diego. In her research work, she applies cutting-edge macromolecular engineering techniques and nanotechnology to innovate the visualisation of molecular processes in living organisms and to improve drug delivery and biopharmaceutics. Her group’s most recent discovery is a novel mechanism which uses light to activate drug-delivering nanoparticles and other targeted therapeutic substances inside the body. At Falling Walls, Adah Almutairi presents an overview of her fascinating research and an outlook on its groundbreaking possibilities in health care.