Daniel Kohane on the Biocompatibility of Mesoporous Silicates
Fast Moving Front Commentary, January 2012
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Article: The biocompatibility of mesoporous silicates
Authors: Hudson, SP;Padera, RF;Langer, R;Kohane,
DS |
Daniel Kohane talks with ScienceWatch.com and answers a few questions about this month's Fast Moving Fronts paper in the field of Materials Science.
Why do you think your paper is highly cited?
Does it describe a new discovery, methodology, or synthesis of
knowledge? Would you summarize the significance of your paper in
layman's terms?
There are two reasons. First, there is considerable interest in silicates as drug delivery systems, especially as nanoparticles that would be used to carry drugs to specific locations. Second, we found that there was the potential for considerable toxicity, which was unanticipated and went against prevailing thinking in the field at the time.
How did you become involved in this
research, and how would you describe the particular challenges,
setbacks, and successes that you've encountered along the way?
I became involved in this research because my awesome postdoc at the time, Dr. Sarah Hudson, was experienced in mesoporous silicates, and made me aware of the substantial literature on the use of such particles in drug delivery. The main challenge/setback we encountered was that our findings ran contrary to the reports of others, meaning that we had to provide extensive proof of what we found.
Where do you see your research leading in
the future?
Right now I have moved on to other things.
Daniel S. Kohane, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Harvard Medical School
Senior Associate in Critical Care Medicine
Children's Hospital Boston
Boston, MA, USA
KEYWORDS: SILICATE, MESOPOROUS, BIOCOMPATIBILITY, DRUG DELIVERY, CONTROLLED DRUG RELEASE, DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM, CARRIER SYSTEM, PORE SIZE, ANTICANCER DRUGS, GUEST MOLECULES, IN VIVO, NANOPARTICLES, MCM-41, PARTICLES.