Class Descriptions
Week 1 (June 5)
Introduction to Nano: Small, Strange, and Useful
What do we mean by Nano? What are the nanoscale, nanoscience, and nanotechnology? As you will learn, defining the term "nanotechnology" itself can be a challenge and the discipline has a rich and somewhat controversial history. We'll begin to learn how strange and useful nanoscale materials can be before next week's look at their applications in the nanoscale world of the cell.
Coursera.org: Nanotechnology, The Basics Week 1, Lectures 1-7
https://www.coursera.org/course/nanotech
Week 2 (June 12)
An Initial Plunge into the Nanoscale
Nanomedicine—DNA and Gold Nanoparticles
Begin a series of Great Courses lectures on nanoscience in biology and medicine with Dr. Shana Kelley. First, let's try to visualize the size of nanoparticles and look at the technological advances that have been achieved on this incredibly tiny scale. The building blocks of life, including DNA, are nanoscale objects, making ideal targets for nanotechnology diagnostic tools and disease treatments. We'll review the basics of cell biology, DNA, and genomics and learn how gold nanoparticles can be used to detect genetic mutations that cause cancer and disease.
The Great Courses: Nanotechnology, The New Science Of Small Lectures 1 & 7
Week 3 (June 19)
Nano and Proteins—Enzymes to Cholesterol
Nanoparticles for Cancer Detection
Like DNA, proteins are a major class of biomolecules that can connect biology directly with the world of nanotechnology. In these lectures, we'll look at some of the basic features of proteins and see how these features can be useful for applications in nanoscience and nanomedicine. We'll learn about testing for cancer inside the body using circulating nanosensors for early detection and treatment.
The Great Courses: Nanotechnology, The New Science Of Small Lectures 8 & 9
Week 4 (June 26)
Detecting Only a Few Molecules of a Disease
Nanomaterials That Seek and Destroy Disease
Injecting nanosensors into the body to screen for cancer is challenged by both regulatory hurdles and the fact that not all cancers respond equally well to in vivo testing. Turn to cancer diagnostic tools “in vitro”—outside the body—which offers a reduced regulatory burden and promises much more efficient detection of the molecules that signal cancer.
Gold nanoparticles can be used to target and eliminate diseased cells in living tissue in three ways. A photothermal approach places gold nanoparticles in a tumor and then irradiates the particles from an external source. A similar but more targeted technique tunes the radiation to a precise frequency, sparing surrounding tissues. Finally, learn how the gold nanoparticles themselves can be the tumor-killing agent.
The Great Courses: Nanotechnology, The New Science Of Small Lectures 10 & 11
Week 5 (July 3)
How Nanomaterials Improve Drug Delivery
Delivering Drugs with “Smart” Nanocapsules
Drugs are administered by injection, inhalation, skin patches, or in pills, but these methods deliver only a fraction of the medication to the needed areas. Many potentially useful biomolecules have no effective way to get to their targets. Discover how nanomaterials like protein nanoparticles, nanotubes, and liposomes can offer a solution to these problems. We'll look at some recent studies in which these nanomaterials have been shown to be effective in improving drug activity.
The Great Courses: Nanotechnology, The New Science Of Small Lectures 12 & 13
Week 6 (July 10)
Nanoscale Surgical Tools
Nanomaterials for Artificial Tissue
Nanoscale surgical tools can make excisions with incredible precision, ensuring that when a cancerous tumor is removed, no malignant cells remain and no healthy cells are harmed. Explore this ongoing medical revolution, and discover the role of robotics in enhancing the surgeon’s skill.
Regenerative medicine focuses on producing artificial substitutes that can restore or replace damaged tissues or organs. Learn how nanomaterials stimulate cell and tissue growth in the body. Also follow progress in generating artificial organs outside the body to help meet the demand for organ transplants.
The Great Courses: Nanotechnology, The New Science Of Small Lectures 14 & 15
Week 7 (July 17)
Nanomaterials: The Nano Zoo
Nanophotonics, part 1
Now that we’ve learned about nanobiology and nanomedicine, let’s investigate some other applications of nanotechnology with our Coursera.org instructors.
First, we’ll get an introduction to some of the nanomaterials that are used in these applications. Then, we’ll start learning about nanophotonics: how nanoscale materials interact with light and offer completely new approaches to manipulating light. (And we’ll get closer to understanding how quantum dots work!)
Coursera.org: Nanotechnology, The Basics Week 1, Lectures 8 & 9; Week 4, Lectures 1-3
Week 8 (July 24)
Nanophotonics, part 2
This week we will continue shedding light on nanoscale materials and photonics. Compared to electrons, photons are difficult things to trap and control with normal materials. Nanomaterials offer completely new approaches to manipulating light. Whether it’s through diffraction or plasmonics, nanotechnology can provide new capabilities for solid state lasers as well as super resolution microscopes. (And if you didn't understand those words, you will by the end of the class!)
Coursera.org: Nanotechnology, The Basics Week 4, Lectures 4-7
Week 9 (July 31)
Using Nanomaterials to Capture and Store the Sun's Energy
One of the biggest challenges facing the world today is energy. How can we capture and store renewable, sustainable, and clean energy? We'll talk about harvesting energy from the sun and how nanotechnology can improve energy storage.
Dr Wade Adams: The Future of Energy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxUdFke4--Y
Spinning Nanotube Fibers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XDJC64tDR0
Louisiana Tech Education Series: Solar Cells and Nanotechnology
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqcb3ONod4Q
Ted Sargent: Quantum Dot Solar Cells
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDYD5U5UtR4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9gh8a35PHg
Angela Belcher: Using Viruses to Grow Batteries
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrY-gVteHkQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y8pGBfNNDs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUVrUIV4xu4
Week 10 (August 7)
Applications of Nanomagnetics: Cleaning Water and Enhancing Medical Imaging
One of the biggest threats to world health is a lack of clean drinking water. Magnetic nanoparticles can collect contaminants from water, and then be purged by applying a magnet to the filter.
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) uses magnets to make tissues with different amounts of water produce different shading on an image. Magnetic nanoparticles can produce greater contrast in targeted tissues.
Coursera.org: Nanotechnology, The Basics Week 3, Lectures 4-7