Title : Graphene “Hastalex®”, butterfly, and stem cells are set to revolutionise the development of human organs.
Abstract:
The world advancing rapidly in the field of technology, a simple example is our mobile phone. However, when compared to healthcare, the diagnostic and treatment of diseases are still very poor and surgery has not changed significantly compared with 50 years ago. There is plenty of news in academia/media that everything could be diagnosed and cured, but in reality, the invention has been tested in rodents and has not moved to human. This is due to; the complexity of the medical devices builds in university research environment, the lack of difficulty taking devices to clinical setting, as well as the positive outcome obtained from in vitro, and rodents may not transferable to human. Therefore, need going back to the drawing table and rethink to build medical devices that; commercially feasible, reliable, sensitive, repeatable, and non-toxic and biocompatible. The potential for using smart nanomaterial and consequent research to replace damaged tissues has also seen a quantum leap in the last decade. In 2010, two scientists in the UK realized they had isolated a single layer of carbon atoms on a scotch tape. Since then, graphene has captured the imagination of researchers due to its fascinating properties. Graphene considers as a wonder material, it is the strongest material on the planet, an order of 200 times stronger than steel, super-elastic and conductive. Graphene's carbon atoms are arranged into hexagons, forming a honeycomb-like lattice. The functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) from butterfly wing are nontoxic and antibacterial. FGO has been used for drug and gene delivery, development of biosensor or in nanocomposite materials development of human organs. In my talk, I present and discuss our work on the application of FGO-POSS in development of medical sensors, drug, gene, and stem cells delivery, as well as the development of human organs with stem cells technology. The materials can be fabricated to human organs with the 3D printer or other fabrication methodologies. The scaffold from these materials is functionalized with bioactive molecules and stem cells technology, for the development of human organs. The data for the development of organs using these materials will be presented. In conclusion, the graphene, POSS bring new hope for gene, drug and stem cells delivery for repair and replacement of organs.