Nano Science - Tomalia in the Lecture

Nano Science - Tomalia

In the lecture that Dr. Donald Tomalia presented in March, 2009 ("Traveling the Nano Road of Science, Art & Discovery"), he seems to be the most enthusiastic when he is talking about "dendrimers," which are polymers with a central and hollow core and tendrils. Because the core is hollow in a dendrimers it becomes a kind of pouch or cavity, he explains, and other molecules can be stored in that cavity, which opens the door to nanoscale discoveries and applications. Tomalia first became fascinated with dendrimers by watching lightning strikes as a young boy. He insists that dendrimic designs are "incredibly pervasive" around the world. Even a maple leaf is "…full of dendrimic capillaries," he explains. Trees are dendrimic, even erosion-created designs in mountains (seen from airplanes) are dendrimic -- but why do things have dendrimic architecture?

This is the key question and leads to the reason why Tomalia pursued a scientific investigation of dendrimic concepts as an employee of Dow Chemical. At the outset of his research, Tomalia learned that at the molecular level dendrimers double as they grow in the same fashion as bacteria. Through his continuing work, Tomalia found he could control the size and the shape of the dendrimers, and moreover, these microscopic studies revealed a world of nano science -- "…precise nano structures," he asserted. When he asks members of the audience (freshmen chemistry students) how many know what "nano" is, only a few hands to up. He explains that soon they will understand nano, because in time nano science may be able to protect humans from avian flu and will mean that annual flu shots will not be necessary.

Tomalia enthuses about the design and patterns that dendrimers create, but he pauses to explain why chemistry students should give "a royal rip" about dendrimers. It is possible that dendrimers can help prevent HIV and genital herpes. The lecturer reported that nano scale is "ten to the minus nine and ten to the minus seven meters." Nano is going to be "huge," Tomalia insists; that is, nano technology is expected to be "…a three trillion dollar market by 2015" and it may create "over two million jobs." Nano means taking small elements and "…building them up into proteins, DNA, antibodies," and using them to attack viruses, he said.

Nano structures are very important to the well-being of humans, Tomalia asserts, because for example red blood cells are nano structures and insulin is a nano structure (and without it humans become diabetic). Part of the emphasis that Tomalia returned to again and again in the lecture was related to sustainability: "Human health, disease and longevity are really determined and will be controlled at nano-scale dimensions." Tomalia uses the drama of the "Spanish Flu" pandemic in the early 20th century -- that killed more people than had succumbed to the Bubonic Plague in Europe -- to emphasize the value of understanding nano structures. "I hope it clicks with your mind," he concluded, "about how important [nano science] is because we're probably going to have a chance to dodge this avian flu."