Novel Healthcare Solutions for an Ever Changing World
As the demand for healthcare services worldwide continues to increase so does the demand for novel healthcare solutions. Solutions that are more effective and cost less. Solutions that prevent disease as well as cure it. Solutions that can be used with equal effectiveness throughout the world.
Only with the use of novel material approaches will these objectives be realised. Novel materials that can be used to deliver drugs, help treat cancers, sense a wide variety of biological molecules or even provide enhanced medical implants. Today teams around the world are using graphene to help bring these ideas and many more out of the realm of science fiction and into the real world. Graphene, research into which won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics, is still in its infancy in the field of biomedical research but is already making waves - paving the way for novel diagnosis and treatments.
This is all due to the unique properties of graphene - the world's first truly 2D material, who's surface area, electron mobility and functionalisation potential can be put to full use in biomedical technologies. For instance the surface area of graphene makes an excellent platform for drug delivery (1) and the conductivity makes for effective biosensors (2). The ability of graphene to be made into graphene scaffolds whilst maintaining the inherent conductivity can be put to use in tissue engineering (3).
To help push graphene forward into the healthcare industry, the Graphene Flagship is running a two day event tailored to the needs of biomedical professionals who need to understand quickly and concisely the potential of graphene. By bringing together leaders in graphene biomedical research from academia and industry the Graphene Flagship's Graphene Connect conference gives attendees the ability to learn from those at the forefront of modern understanding. Prof. Kostas Kostarelos from The University of Manchester will give an overview of graphene and its use in biomedical devices and representatives from AstraZeneca, Glaxo Smith Kline, Pixtium Vision, Clinatec and Multichannel Systems will talk about how this cutting edge research is being completed in industry and its path forward.
Graphene Connect gives the participants the time not only to learn from the best but also prioritises discussion and networking sessions. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions as well as to meet like-minded people with a shared goal - to use graphene to its full potential to advance the biomedical field.
With its two day lunch to lunch program and low registration fee Graphene Connect aims to be as inclusive as possible. So if you have ever wondered about what graphene can do for you or how you can better use it in your research now is the time to come and find out.
(1) Servant A., Bianco A., Prato M., Kostarelos K., Graphene for multi-functional synthetic biology: The last ‘zeitgeist’ in nanomedicine, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 24, 1638-49 (2014).
(2) Dimitrios B., Ali-Boucetta H., Hong BH., Min DH., Kostarelos K., Prospects and Challenges of Graphene in Biomedical Applications, Adv. Mater., 25, 2258-68 (2013).
(3) Servant A., Leon V., Jasim D., Methven L., Limousin P., Fernandez-Pacheco EV., Prato M., Kostarelos K., Graphene-based electroresponsive scaffolds as polymeric implants for on-demand drug delivery, Adv. Health. Mater., 3(8) 1334-43 (2014).