The NCEC lab (a.k.a. YOON lab) is currently working in the following areas of research:
1. Translational Bio-friendly Materials
Biomaterials that can be introduced into the human body hold great potential to diagnose and treat disease. For such applications, it is important that the materials be harmlessly eliminated from the body in a reasonable period of time after they carry out their diagnostic or therapeutic functions. For example, despite efforts to improve their targeting efficiency, significant quantities of systemically administered nanomaterials are cleared by the mononuclear phagocytic system before finding their targets, increasing the likelihood of unintended acute or chronic toxicity. However, there has been little effort to engineer the self-destruction of errant biomaterials into non-toxic, systemically eliminated products. In the BEL, we are developing clinically relevant biosafe materials that can perform their unique biological functions without any toxicity concerns.
The element symbol for silicon spelled out on a fingertip with bio-friendly luminescent silicon nanoparticles.
