The inaugural Georgia Symposium on Nanotechnology in Infectious Disease will be hosted by UGA on Feb. 19. The symposium marks the start of a collaboration among UGA, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University to transform Georgia into a major attractor and incubator for emerging nanotechnology-based industries, with a focus on the application of nanotechnology to infectious diseases.
“These three universities have common research interests in the application of nanotechnology to biomedicine, especially in the area of infectious disease,” said David Lee, vice president for research at UGA. “As they comprise a major component of the state’s intellectual resources, these institutions have significant opportunities-in addition to profound obligations-to facilitate and participate in this revolutionary development in 21st century science, technology and industry.”
During the next two decades, nanotechnology is set to revolutionize the biological and physical sciences and the related areas of applied science and engineering, according to Rich Dluhy, director of UGA’s NanoScale Science and Engineering Center and a conference co-organizer.
“The global economic impact of nanotechnology is estimated to be at the trillion-dollar level over the next 15 years,” Dluhy said. “To ensure the continued, robust, economic development of the state of Georgia over the coming decades, it is imperative that all available nanotechnology-related resources be marshaled.”
The one-day symposium, to be held in the Riverbend South Conference Center, features morning and afternoon keynote speakers, followed by talks from faculty of the three sponsoring institutions. The first session begins at 8:30 a.m. with keynote speaker Mostafa El-Sayed, holder of the Julius Brown Chair and Regents’ Professor of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech where he is also director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratories. The afternoon session begins at 1 p.m. with keynote speaker Shuming Nie, the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Chair Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Emory University.