Michael J. Smanski, PhD

Dr. Smanski is examining magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), which possess unique physical properties that have led to several clinical applications in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Several species of bacteria have been found to naturally produce MNPs with exquisite control over size and shape that is unmatched by current chemical synthesis methods. He aims to understand how bacterial synthesis of MNPs relies on the coordinated expression of several dozen genes.