Phuong-Truc Pham, assistant professor of chemistry at Penn State Worthington Scranton, has published articles in three recent and upcoming professional publications.
In "Polymers For Viral Gene Delivery", Pham, along with co-author Chum Wang, of the University of Minnesota's Department of Biomedical Engineering, discusses current challenges in using recombinant viruses to deliver functional genes as potential treatment for genetically inherited or acquired diseases. The article also provides an overview on recent advances in the development of polymer-virus hybrid vectors to improve infectivity, targeting ability and safety profiles. The two authors also discuss and offer their opinions on the important aspects necessary for improving polymer-based viral gene delivery.This article appears in Expert Opinion Drug Delivery (2008) 5(4):1-17
Professor Pham's second publication, a peer-reviewed article, is "Single Crystal Field Effect Transistor of a Y-Shaped Ladder-Type Oligomer" and was co-authored with Yu-Xia, C. Daniel Frisbie and Mamoun Bader. It will appear in an upcoming issue of J. Physical Chemistry C. 2008.In this article, Professor Pham and her colleagues describe the synthesis, electrical characteristics and fabrication of a single crystal field effect transistor device from a "ladder type" oligomer. They have demonstrated that these organic materials hold promise as candidates for use as semiconductors and show that the molecular shape seems to play a crucial role in the ability of a molecule to form crystals of good quality suitable for device fabrication.
New derivatives are currently under development and investigations.
In her third peer-reviewed publication, "Eectronic and Geometric Structures of Thiophene-Phenylene Oligomers: A Density Functional Theory Study", which she solely authored, Professor Pham reports theoretical work aimed at identifying target compounds which could potentially be used as semiconductors.
Density functional theory methods were successfully applied to study the electronic and geometric structures of a series of thiophene-phenylene oligomers and she observed general structural features that are important in the design of oligothiophene-phenylene derivatives with desirable electronic properties were presented.
This article appears in Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering 2008, 98,568.Professor Pham lives in Mountain Top with her husband, Mamoun Bader, and they have five children.
