(4hq) Development of chiral nanomaterials for translational medicine

I am a physicist with a longstanding interest in providing health and healing to people by bringing scientific and engineering knowledge to life. Nanomedicine, the application of nanotechnology to medicine, is currently at an early stage, but it is expected to have a profound impact on health care. Despite potential benefits, there is currently a lack of essential data regarding the immune response to nanoparticles, which is necessary to generate clinically translatable nanosized therapeutics.

My primary research interests are in the development of chiral nanomaterials with a high translational potential and the ability to excel therapeutics currently available in the clinic. Specifically, I am eager to address the following questions: Does the innate immune system sense engineered nanomaterials as pathogens? When is nanomaterial-induced immune response good and bad? What is the role of the chirality of nanomaterials in this phenomenon? To answer these questions, I use multiple methods at the intersection of physics, chemical engineering, and translational and clinical sciences. I apply machine learning for the design of chiral nanoparticles and the prediction of their biological activity. Combining these fields will help me to perform a comprehensive interdisciplinary study on the chiral nanoparticle-induced immune response and develop a multiparametric physico-chemical model of this phenomenon. These findings will have a broad impact on Nanoscience and Nanomedicine and will be used for a better design and optimization of nanoparticles for clinical research and personalized medicine.

In my Ph.D. program, I developed chiral nanoparticles for photodynamic cancer therapy,^1-3 drug delivery,⁴ and biosensors,⁵ and studied their interactions with cancer cells.⁶ These results were achieved at ITMO University (Russia) and during my internships at the Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) and Ecole Normale Supérieue de Lyon (France). As a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Nicholas Kotov's lab (since December 2019), I expanded my knowledge in chiral nanomaterials both experimentally and theoretically.^7,8 Being an experimental researcher during the quarantine time, I mastered the computational simulations of the optical properties of nanoparticles. Currently, I am creating biodegradable chiral nanomaterials and studying their interaction with the immune system. Also, I am developing a machine learning model for the recognition and processing of microscopy images of chiral nano- and micro-structures.

I believe that these knowledge and skills will enable me to deepen understanding of bio-nano interactions and make a step forward in Translational Nanomedicine development.

Selected publications (* = corresponding author)

1. Visheratina A.K.*, Purcell-Milton F., Gun'ko Y.K., Orlova A.O.* (2019). Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy as a Powerful Tool for Unraveling Assembly of Chiral Non-luminescent Aggregates of Photosensitizer Molecules on Nanoparticle Surfaces. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 123(37), 8028-8035. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.9b05500.
2. Visheratina A.*, Orlova A.*, Purcell-Milton F., Kuznetsova V., Visheratin A., Kundelev E., Maslov V., Baranov A., Fedorov A., Gun'ko Y. (2018). Influence of CdSe and CdSe/CdS nanocrystals on the optical activity of chiral organic molecules. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 6(7), 1759-1766. DOI:1039/C7TC03457A.
3. Visheratina A.K., Alisova I.V., Kundelev E.V., Orlova A.O.*, Maslov V.G., Fedorov A.V., Baranov A.V. (2015). Complexes of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots with chlorin e6 in nonaqueous media. Optics and Spectroscopy, 119(5), 733-737. DOI: 10.1134/S0030400X15110259.
4. Visheratina A.K.*, Loudon A., Kuznetsova V.A., Orlova A.O., Gun’ko Y.K., Baranov A.V., Fedorov A.V. (2018). Water-Soluble Conjugates of ZnS: Mn Quantum Dots with Chlorin e6 for Photodynamic Therapy. Optics and Spectroscopy, 125(1), 94-98. DOI: 10.1134/S0030400X18070263.
5. Visheratina A.K., Purcell-Milton F., Serrano-García R., Kuznetsova V.A., Orlova A.O., Fedorov A.V., Baranov A.V., Gun'ko Y.* (2017). Chiral recognition of optically active CoFe 2 O 4 magnetic nanoparticles by CdSe/CdS quantum dots stabilised with chiral ligands. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 5(7), 1692-1698. DOI: 10.1039/C6TC04808K.
6. Kuznetsova V.A.*, Visheratina A.K., Ryan A., Martynenko I.V., Loudon A., Maguire C., Purcell-Milton F., Orlova A.O., Baranov A.V., Fedorov A.V., Prina-Mello A., Volkov Y., Gun'ko Y.K. (2017). Enantioselective cytotoxicity of ZnS: Mn quantum dots in A549 cells. Chirality, 29(8), 403-408. DOI: 10.1002/chir.22713.
7. Visheratina A., Kotov N.A.*, (2020). Inorganic Nanostructures with Strong Chiroptical Activity. CCS Chemistry, 2, 583-604. DOI: 10.31635/ccschem.020.202000168 – Invited Review Paper and Feature Cover.
8. Visheratina A.K., Kumar P., Kotov N.A.* Engineering of Inorganic Nanostructures with Hierarchy of Chiral Geometries at Multiple Scales (accepted for publication in AIChE J., September 2021) – Perspective Article and Feature Cover.

Teaching Interests

The most thing I enjoy about teaching is that it is an excellent opportunity to deepen your own knowledge and understanding of the subject and help others to master it. In my teaching philosophy, I feel that bestowing my students with confidence in their critical thinking abilities and their ability to communicate their knowledge is of utmost importance. I had the experience of teaching and mentoring students while being a Graduate Student Instructor at ITMO University (Russia) and Research Assistant at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). Based on my experience, I can tell that classroom diversity includes not only ethnic, racial, gender, and socio-economic diversities but also diversity in learning styles. Therefore, for me, it is imperative to make sure that every student is involved in active studies. For this purpose, I plan to provide a multitude of practical resources to ensure that students are perfectly equipped for an equal learning experience. For example, my course will include lecture recordings, reading resources, homework solutions, quiz and exam solutions, and mini-lectures on challenging concepts that remained unclear to students after the lecture.

My background in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology gives me the confidence to teach a broad selection of classes, ranging from introductory level courses for undergraduates (Nano-scale materials: development, characterization, and applications; Nanomedicine) to specialized courses for graduate students (Optical spectroscopy for nanostructures).

To grow my awareness about teaching, I completed the Postdoctoral Short Course on College STEM Teaching provided by the University of Michigan. After this course, I had a look at the interdisciplinary nature of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from a different angle: a multidisciplinary approach to teaching inevitably reaches more students in the class because the material discussed is from a broad background. Thus, it is essential for me to organize courses that will be inclusive for a broad scientific audience. Moreover, I do research in this field, which will give me the opportunity to present students the state-of-the-art research and invite speakers to the lectures to promote fruitful discussions.