Dr. Lloyd Lumata obtained his BS in Physics at the Western Mindanao State University, Philippines in 2002. He went to graduate school at Florida State University (FSU) in 2004 wherein he studied nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of organic conductors under the supervision of Prof. James Brooks at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. He earned his PhD in Condensed Matter Physics at FSU in 2008. In 2009, he moved to Dallas for a postdoc position at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). At UTSW, he assembled an MRI signal-enhancing instrumentation called hyperpolarizer that amplifies the MRI signals by >10,000-fold. This machine was used for high resolution cardiac and cancer imaging. In 2014, he moved to the neighboring University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) as a faculty in the Department of Physics where he is now an Associate Professor, leading a research group that applies this hyperpolarization technology for non-invasive diagnostic assessment of cancer.

Dr. Anton Naumov

Dr. Anton Naumov received B.S. in Physics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he started nanotechnology research separating chiral carbon nanotubes. He received his M.S. and Ph.D in Applied Physics from Rice University studying optical properties of carbon nanotubes and graphene. After his Ph.D. Dr. Naumov joined Ensysce Biosciences Inc. as a Research Scientist developing nanomaterials-assisted cancer therapeutics. Later on, he joined Central Connecticut State University as an Assistant Professor. In 2015 Dr. Naumov joined TCU and in 2018 - also TCU/UNTHSC Medical School, continuing his bio-nanotechnology research focusing on nanomaterials that perform drug delivery imaging and diagnostics.

Dr. Sherri A. McFarland

Dr. Sherri A. McFarland is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington. She is experienced in synthetic and medicinal inorganic chemistry, luminescence/diagnostics, photophysics/ photochemistry, biological chemistry, photodynamic therapy (PDT)/photochemotherapy(PCT)/photothermal therapy (PTT), and melanoma (as well as a few other cancers). Her research group designed and advanced the first metallodrug photosensitizer of its class to human clinical trials, a ruthenium (Ru) PDT agent (TLD1433) that is now in Phase 2 studies (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT03945162) for treating bladder cancer. She also founded a biotech start-up (Photodynamic, Inc.) to commercialize a natural product plant extract as a photoactive antimicrobial for orthodontics, which is also in a Phase 2 human clinical trial. These accomplishments and others are highlighted in 2 completed and 2 current human clinical trials, 5 issued US patents that are currently maintained in a variety of countries, 3 pending patents, 2 license agreements with industry, 2 trademarks owned by industry, 62 academic peer-reviewed publications, the first Ru PDT agent in clinical trials, and the first natural product extract photosensitizer in human clinical trials.

Dr. Wei Chen

Dr. Wei Chen is a professor at the department of Physics, UT Arlington. He has been engaged in cutting-edge nanotechnology research for many years and is an internationally renowned expert in nanomedicine and cancer nanotechnology. He is well known for his inventions in cancer nano-targeted therapy and deep cancer photodynamic therapy. Currently he has published 295 papers in famous academic journals such as PNAS, Nano Letters, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy(Nature), Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Materials Today Physics, presided over the compilation of 1 monograph (three volumes), and participated in the compilation of 13 monographs. His papers have been cited more than 11460 times, and his H index is 56, including one paper with 685 citations, 13 papers with more than 200 times, 28 papers with more than 100 times. He has 20 US patents granted and he has been funded with more 30 scientific research projects with a total funding of more than 9 million U.S. dollars. His early pioneering work on thermoluminescence of nanoparticles were adopted by Charles P. Poole Jr. and Frank J. Owens in their first Textbook ‘Introduction to Nanotechnology’ published in 2003. Dr. Chen's scientific research work has attracted wide attention and has been reported by the American TV program CBS. Dr. Chen received the University distinguished record of research and creative activity award in 2020. He is one of the 35 scientists from the country to be included in the National Academy of Inventors 2020 class of Senior Members. He was elected be a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (Sweden) and a Vebleo Fellow in 2020 and a Sigma Xi full member in 2021.

Dr. Ruibing Wang

Dr. Ruibing Wang, Associate Professor, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Programme Director of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Director of Global Affairs Office, University of Macau. He obtained his BSc and PhD degrees in chemistry, from Jilin University and Queen's University, Canada, respectively. After graduation, he worked in the National Research Council of Canada and the biotech industry for a number of years before joining the University of Macau in 2014. Dr. Wang's current main research interest is the design and application of drug delivery systems based on supramolecular systems. After joining UM, he has published over 100 research papers in Nature Commun., Mater. Today, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Matter, Adv. Funct. Mater., Adv. Sci., ACS Cent. Sci. etc. He has also won several prestigious awards including 2018 Macao Science and Technology Award-Natural Science category, 2019 Chinese Periodic Table of Young Chemist, and 2020 Macau Science and Technology Award- Technological Invention.

Dr. Derong Cao

Dr. Derong Cao, Professor, Ph.D. Supervisor, Director of the Department of Chemistry, South China University of Technology, Professor of the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Adjunct Chief Scientist of the National Institute of Ophthalmology, Singapore, Member of the New Energy Expert Committee of the Chinese Energy Society, Deputy Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Chiral Professional Committee of the Guangdong Pharmaceutical Association, and a member of the Organic Chemistry Professional Committee of the Guangdong Chemical Association. Received a bachelor's and master's degree from Lanzhou University and a joint Ph.D. degree from the University of Mainz in Germany. /Lanzhou University in China, Postdoctoral fellows at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Mainz, Germany; after returning to China in 2000, he worked at the Guangzhou Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since 2005, he has been engaged in teaching and scientific research at South China University of Technology and engaged in organic chemistry and materials science research, especially in the synthesis of pillararenes and functional materials research has achieved fruitful results. Undertook the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program sub-projects, the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation key projects and other topics; published more than 200 SCI papers and in total more than 300 papers, some of the research results were published in high impact journals like Chem. Soc. Rev., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. and other top international academic journals in the field of chemistry and materials. In 2012, he won the Guangdong Jinbo Award and in 2013 he won the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Award.

Dr. Amitava Patra is currently Director, at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, and a Senior Professor at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. He was born in 1965 and received his Ph. D (1993) from Jadavpur University, India. Amitava pioneered the study of two-photon spectroscopy and ultrafast carrier dynamics on the contemporary topic of 2D structures, carbon dots, metal clusters, polymeric nanoparticles, and quantum dots for light-harvesting applications. We are interested to learn the mechanisms for photo-initiated processes such as exciton dynamics, ultrafast carrier dynamics, electron transfer, and energy transfer of nanomaterials for solar energy conversion. He is the author or co-author of more than 232 scientific papers, 5 book chapters, and 2 Indian patents. He was an Advisory board member of Nanoscale and Journal of Physical Chemistry and others. Prof. Amitava Patra is amongst the world's Top 2% scientist 2020 with a global rank of 149 in Physical Chemistry (Ranking is based on C-score). Prof. Amitava Patra has been elected as a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA), and the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc), India, and the National Academy of Sciences (FNASc), India. He is the recipient of National Prizes for Research in Chemical Spectroscopy and Molecular Structure, MRSI-ICSC Materials Science Annual Prize, C.N.R. Rao National Prize for Chemical Research, DAE-SRC Outstanding Investigator Award, A.V. Rama Rao Foundation Prize in Chemistry, AsiaNANO 2010 Award, CRSI Bronze Medal, Ramanujan Fellowship, MRSI Medal. His research papers have been cited more than 10550 by peers (h-index= 56).

Dr. Mohammad Najlah has extensive experience as a teacher, researcher, and manager. He has an excellent research profile focusing on the development of drug delivery nano-systems for enhanced bioavailability and optimised therapeutic effects. His research on polymeric conjugates was recognised from early stages by the major international body in the field of controlled release (CRS Outstanding Oral Drug Delivery Award in 2006). Mohammad is mainly interested in repurposing safe drugs and natural materials for anticancer therapy. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed publications in the field of pharmaceutical nanotechnology and supervised eight PhD students, four Post doc researchers. Mohammad is Principal Investigator on external research grants as high as $700K and a collaborator with a wide network in industry and academia. Recently, he has been awarded a total of £240K by Innovate UK and industry collaborators for implementing a scaling up technology of nano-lipids. At ARU, he led the establishment of £3.4 million budgeted multifunctional Lab designed to deliver multidisciplinary education and conduct research for transitional science. He also led the establishment of new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. As a Deputy Head of School, he has extensive experience of study management, supporting research activities and identifying the individual support needs of research and ancillary staff. He is external examiner for two UK universities and served as a chair or external examiner for several PhD vivas.

Dr. Jason Maley was raised in Estevan, Saskatchewan, a small prairie town that sits near the Canada/United States border. He has spent a long career at the University of Saskatchewan, receiving a BSc.(Hons) in Chemistry (1998) and a MSc. in Physical Chemistry (2003). Jason joined the Saskatchewan Structural Sciences Centre, a centralized research instrumentation lab at the University of Saskatchewan, in 2002 as a Research Officer in the biophysical and materials characterization sections. In 2019, he obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering, research he pursued on his own time in the area of protein adsorption kinetics onto amorphous carbon surfaces.

Dr. Ramaswami Sammynaiken BSc Hons (Chemistry) McMaster, MSc (Photoelectron Spectroscopy) Guelph, and PhD. (EPR spectroscopy) New Brunswick is the founding manager of the Saskatchewan Structural Sciences Centre (SSSC) at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2000 he moved from Western University to setup and establish the SSSC as a multidisciplinary research centre that also functions as a contract research organization for mining to pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Sammynaiken’s research interest is in the ‘electronic structure – function’ relationship of materials. Current research funding to develop value added materials and processes is from the Agriculture development Fund of Saskatchewan. Dr. Sammynaiken was also the recipient of the Provost award for teaching innovation.

Dr. Lloyd Lumata

¹³C Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Enhanced by Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Doping

We report on the use of a superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle (SPION) MRI contrast agent Feraheme (ferumoxytol) as a beneficial dopant in 13C samples for dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)—a technique that enhances the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and imaging (MRI) signals by >10,000-fold. Our hyperpolarized NMR data at 3.35 T and 1.2 K reveal that the addition of 11 mM elemental iron concentration of Feraheme in trityl OX063-doped 3 M [1-13C] acetate samples resulted in a significant improvement of 13C DNP signal by a factor of almost three-fold. W-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy data suggest that these two prominent effects of SPION doping on 13C DNP can be ascribed to the shortening of trityl OX063 electron T1, as explained within the thermal mixing DNP model. Liquid-state 13C NMR signal enhancements as high as 20,000-fold for SPION-doped samples were recorded after dissolution at 9.4 T and 24 deg C, which is about three times the liquid-state NMR signal enhancement of the control sample. Our overall results suggest that the commercially available and FDA-approved Feraheme is a highly efficient DNP enhancer that could be readily translated for use in clinical applications of hyperpolarized magnetic resonance.

Dr. Anton Naumov

Graphene Quantum Dots: Synthesis and Applications

Carbon nanomaterials are leading the field of nanotechnology for over 30 years due to their unique physical and electronic properties. They are now used in microelectronics as a basis for nanoscale transistors, they serve as counter electrodes in solar cells or as reinforcement for polymeric materials. Recently carbon nanomaterials have gained a significant attention in the field of biotechnology acting as drug delivery vehicles, therapeutic moieties or nanoscale biosensors. We explore the most prominent applications of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) in biotechnology and optoelectronics.

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) synthesized top-down from graphitic carbon precursors or in bottom-up from simple sugars can be designed to perform a number of functions desired from the nanomaterials in biomedicine. GQDs developed in our work are highly biocompatible (up to several mg/mL) and biodegradable in cell culture at 36h for most of the structures. They can be doped or pre-designed to exhibit bright (with 60% quantum yield) fluorescence in the visible and in near-infrared (with 7% quantum yield). GQDs successfully internalize in vitro and, as targeting agents are attached to their platform, show preferential accumulation in cancer cells and successful delivery of a variety of cancer therapeutics. Injected intravenously, GQDs are used for in vivo imaging, as their near-infrared fluorescence is detected from the organs of live sedated mice. This introduces a unique imaging modality that can utilized to trace therapeutics in animal models without the need of sacrificing those.

Finally, the versatility of the GQD platform allows to utilize those in a wide variety of device geometries, from low cost solar cells and multicolor LEDs to nanothermometers assessing temperatures in cellular microenvironments as well as pH sensors for acidic and cancerous environments.

Dr. Sherri A. McFarland

Tackling Cancer and Infection with Light-Responsive Molecules

Photomedicine is an interdisciplinary field where chemistry and light meet to fight disease. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a special branch of photomedicine that employs a sensitizer molecule, light, and oxygen to destroy unwanted cells with spatiotemporal selectivity. Despite its enormous potential for treating certain diseases, including cancer and infection, PDT has yet to become mainstream. For over a decade, our research team has worked to bring new PDT technologies from bench to bedside. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we have introduced both synthetic compounds and natural products (both have successfully completed Phase 1 clinical trials and are currently in Phase 2) as alternatives to existing porphyrin-based PDT agents for specific indications. This seminar will share some of our experiences in developing metallodrug photosensitizers for treating bladder cancer and photoactive plant extracts for improving oral health.

Dr. Wei Chen

New Developments in Photodynamic Therapy – Deeper and Better

Photodynamic therapy is a combination of light and sensitizers for cancer treatment. The sensitizers and the light are non-toxic but when they interact each other toxins like reactive oxygen species are generated that can kill cancer cells. Photodynamic therapy has the beauty of targeting tumors by the sensitizers themselves and the light, so its side-effect is much lower than chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, the need of light for activation has some limitations as light cannot penetrate deeply into tissue, so photodynamic therapy has been widely used for skin disease treatment but not for deep cancer treatment. In this webinar, I will discuss the possible solutions for developing photodynamic therapy for deep cancer treatment and some new progress in Photodynamic therapy and the invention of new sensitizers that can be activated by UV, X-ray, microwave and ultrasound to produce reactive oxygen species for deep cancer treatment as well as immunity enhancement. New ideas for the combination of photodynamic therapy and radiation to overcome radiation resistance will be discussed.

Dr. Ruibing Wang

Supramolecular cell-hitchhiking delivery of drugs for targeted therapy of inflammatory diseases

Cells are the basic unit of living organisms, and using them as drug carriers has unique advantages. For example, it can significantly improve the efficiency of targeted drug delivery [1]. There are currently two construction strategies for cell-hitchhiking delivery systems. One is to directly phagocytose drugs (including nano-drugs) through endocytosis [2], and the other is to use covalent bonds or biological ligand-receptor interactions to conjugate nanomedicine to the surface of live cells [3]. However, the cells that phagocytize the drug carrier usually degrade the drug before reaching the target. Covalent binding involves a complex synthesis process on the cell surface, which usually impairs the physiological function of the carrier cells. The ligand-receptor interaction has inherent limitation, as it is often limited to specific cells and competitive displacement occurs in vivo. In response to this, we have developed a simple, bio-orthogonal, supramolecular cell-conjugation strategy to construct a cell-based drug delivery system, which is achieved by inserting host (or guest) molecules onto the cell surfaces and nanomedicine surface, respectively [4]. In our studies, a mouse foot swelling inflammation model proved that the supramolecular macrophage-nanomedicine conjugate was efficiently enriched in the foot swelling site, delivered by hand in hand, which was driven by the inflammatory tropism of macrophage. In addition, in an acute pneumonia model in mice, peritoneal macrophage-quercetin-loaded liposomes (mediated via supramolecular hand-holding) significantly improved the pneumonia targeting efficiency of drug-loaded liposomes, and the quercetin-based medicine exhibited signifeicant anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and reduced the lung inflammation. This gentle, simple, host-guest interaction-mediated supramolecular cell-hitchhiking drug delivery system provides a new general strategy for the construction of cell-hitchihiking drug delivery systems to meet the needs of various biomedical applications.

References:

[1] Zhang L. et al, Nature 2015, 526, 118–121.

[2] Wang R. et al, Nature Commun. 2020, 11, 2622.

[3] Ayer M. et al, J. Control. Release, 2017, 259, 92-104.

[4] Wang R. et al, Mater. Today, 2020, 2020, 40, 9-17.

Dr. Derong Cao

Syntheses of Pillararene-based Supramolecular Functional Materials and Their Applications in Various Fields

Supramolecular chemistry is a dynamic emerging discipline and development in which disciplines such as chemistry, materials, life sciences, and medicine interpenetrate and converge. Crown ethers, cyclodextrins, calixarene, etc., as representatives of the three generations of supramolecular host molecules, have promoted the rapid development of supramolecular chemistry. Pillararenes have become a new star in the macrocyclic host molecules in recent years due to their superior performance in molecular recognition, self-assembly and materials.

At present, the studies on the syntheses and performance of pillararene-based functional materials mainly focus on the following aspects: (1) pillararene-based optical functional materials: including optical switch materials, fluorescent materials, luminescent materials, etc.; (2) pillararene-based functional materials with external stimulus response: including drug release materials, gel materials, detection materials, etc.; (3) pillararene-based adsorption and separation materials: including adsorption and separation materials for gas and solution; (4) pillararene-based supramolecular polymer materials. This article summarizes and prospects the synthesis of pillararene-based supramolecular functional materials and their applications in many fields.

Dr. Amitava Patra

New Possibilities of Metal Clusters for Bio-Applications

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters (MNCs) is an emerging area of research due to their potential applications[1-7]. We will discuss about DNA-based logic gate by probing the DNA-metal base pair in the presence of suitable additive such as metal nanoclusters and metal ions. We investigated the conformation of DNA by a photoexcited energy transfer process where the Au cluster is covalently attached with AlexaFluor 488 (A488) dye tagged DNA. Blue luminescent, pepsin-templated copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) are synthesized for an effective peroxidase mimic. The development of Cu NC-based artificial enzymes will pave the way for versatile biomedical, environmental, and clinical applications.

References

[1] Bipattaran Paramanik, Dipankar Bain, and Amitava Patra, J. Phys. Chem. C 2016, 120, 17127−17135.

[2] Dipankar Bain, Bipattaran Paramanik, and Amitava Patra, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2017, 121, 4608–4617.

[3] Subarna Maity, Dipankar Bain and Amitava Patra, J. Phys. Chem. C 2019, 123, 2506−2515.

[4] Dipankar Bain, Subarna Maity, and Amitava Patra, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2019, 21, 5863 – 5881.

[5] Subarna Maity, Dipankar Bain, and Amitava Patra, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 22685 – 22723.

[6] Subarna Maity, Dipankar Bain, Sikta Chakraborty, Sarita Kolay and Amitava Patra, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2020, 8, 18335–18344.

[7] Dipankar Bain, Subarna Maity, and Amitava Patra, Chemical Communications, 2020, 56, 9292 – 9295.

Dr. Mohammad Najlah

Repurposing Drugs: New Hope for Cancer Patients & Opportunities for Pharmaceutical Industry

With more than 200 types diagnosed worldwide, cancer has been a main risk to human health and global economy. Hence, an efficient cancer therapy is urgently needed as the development of new anticancer drugs is a lengthy and costly process. Therefore, repurposing licensed drugs for cancer therapy has attracted great research interest. For example, disulfiram (DS) is a safe anti-alcoholism drug, has not only shown important toxic activity- dependent on the concentration of copper (II) (Cu⁺²)- against wide range of cancer cells but also entirely reversed the chemo-resistance and cross-resistance of cancer cells. However, the clinical application of disulfiram for cancer treatment is limited by its bio-instability in the bloodstream (t_1/2 < 4 min). Therefore, a long-circulating nano-drug delivery system protecting DS until reaching cancer tissues is needed.

We have developed and explored a wide range of nano-based formulations to act as “shield carriers” of DS in cancer therapy. Liposomes have attracted the main interest since they may be more translational than any other nano-carriers. PEGylation of DS-loaded liposomes have successfully extended the t_1/2 of DS to 75 min in vitro [5], whereas PEGylated PLGA nanoparticles were able to provide a longer t_1/2 ( up to 120 min) than that of liposomes [15]. In my talk, I will shed light on the current research focusing on repurposing DS and metabolites for cancer therapy. Several formulating techniques will be evaluated, and challenges for future developments will be highlighted.

The webinar will show the importance of supporting drug repositioning projects by nanotechnology to develop efficient cancer therapies. Multidisciplinary collaborations will be proposed to develop such treatments form “bench” to “bedside”.

Dr. Jason Maley

Investigating Protein Adsorption on Fullerene-Like Amorphous Carbon Nitride Coatings

Amorphous carbon is a very promising nano-structured material for biocompatible devices. It can be made by a variety of plasma-assisted deposition techniques and is readily doped with other elements, such as nitrogen, which allows tuneable mechanical and tribological properties, including high hardness, low coefficient of friction, and high chemical resistance. It has also been applied to polymer surfaces like poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) which gives it the potential for coating applications to hemocompatible devices such as vascular grafts. Although advances in biomaterials used in both surgical and biomedical applications have steadily improved over the past 30 years, improvements towards their biocompatibility and longevity are still needed. Proteins immediately adsorb to the biomaterial interface when it is exposed to bodily fluids such as blood, and this protein layer mediates cellular adsorption on the biomaterial, ultimately playing a major role in the overall success of the biomaterial. Despite advances over the past 40 years in understanding protein interactions at biomaterial interface, there is still a lack of understanding on many of the mechanisms and factors affecting protein adsorption.

Fullerene-like amorphous carbon nitride (FL-CN_x) films is an allotrope of amorphous carbon which are generally characterized by their high sp² hybridized structure with relatively high nitrogen incorporation (> 20 at.%). This produces odd-membered rings that structurally bend to connect multi-layers to give films with relatively high hardness and low coefficient of friction. In our research, we have incorporated the FL-CNx films onto Au sensor chips through hot-wire graphite sputtering in order to evaluate the initial binding kinetics of two characteristic blood proteins, human serum albumin (HSA) and fibrinogen (Fib), using a commercially available surface plasmon resonance instrumentation. FL-CN_x films were prepared by using different N₂/(Ar+N₂) plasma gas ratios and were characterized using AFM, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and contact angle measurements in order to evaluate structural changes in the films due to different nitrogen species to the initial binding kinetics of the proteins. In addition, we will also discuss our initial research into co-doping FL-CN_x films with Fe_xO_y nanoparticles, and will discuss the structural incorporation and elucidation of both Fe(II) and Fe(III) oxides by XPS, Fe L-edge XANES, and ESR techniques.

Dr. Ramaswami Sammynaiken

Flax Orbitide Emitting Material – A Single Molecule White Emitter

White emission from a single material is extremely rare, even more so in a molecular material instead of conjugated polymers. This is what was recently seen in the latest peptide complex when placed within a standard OLED structure, figure 1a.OLED devices employed a simple architecture designed to maximize the potential across the device while limiting recombination at the contact interfaces, this lends itself to the large turn on voltage of 5 V. Devices tend to become unstable with applied potentials exceeding 8 V, thus the operating potential of 7 V was adopted for spectroscopic testing. Current voltage characterization shows reasonable diode characteristics with a relatively large shunt resistance with respect to series resistance, figure 1b. The spectra form the emission is very broad ranging from 400 nm to 1000 nm. Emission measurements are limited by the substrate that strongly absorbs just below 400nm and the spectrometer at 1000 nm. The emission can be roughly modelled as a Plankian radiator with a temperature of 4230 K. These results are made more compelling by the nature of the peptide. The peptide is a natural product derived from a plant product, which has shown durability and an affinity to form the complex required for emission. This family of materials shows promise of emission from other complexes and base peptide materials.