Nano hockey sticks to win over diseases ft. Steve Streets

In Other Words

Making tiny non-spherical block-copolymer ‘sticks’ (nanofibers via crystallisation-driven self-assembly) functionalised to bind DNA on their surface, the first non-spherical ‘micelleplex’, as gene-delivery vehicles, tested by making brain-cancer cells glow with firefly luciferase.

Key Takeaways

Postdoc at University of Victoria making precision non-spherical nanomaterials (10 nm–10 µm), because at the nanoscale everything wants to be a sphere.
Career built on taking opportunities: a ‘most improved chemistry student’ award led to an industry job, then a Bristol CDT PhD where students pick their own project.
Shifted from small-molecule anti-cancer sugars to polymer drug delivery because getting medicine to the right place (e.g. the brain) is the real bottleneck.
Values the mental workout, freedom to choose directions, and better work-life balance in his group.
Three wishes: a streamlined funding system, better public understanding of chemistry, and Silicon-Valley-style quality of life in academia.