Research Council Officer, Supramolecular Nanoscale Assembly

Dr. Juan Pablo Bravo-Vasquez's area of expertise is in functional thin films. During his Ph.D. work, he studied the photochemistry of inorganic thin films on silicon surfaces and developed a novel deposition technique for a variety of materials including rhenium oxides, silicon dioxide, hafnium oxide, gold, and nanocomposite thin films. He also designed and synthesized advance polymer resists for next generation lithographies, like electron-beam and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL). He is active in researching thin films fabrication and chemical sensor technologies and their implementation into nanodevices.

Dr. Bravo-Vasquez current research is focused in the synthesis and preparation of nanomaterials with optical activity for ultra-sensitive analyses. His interests include surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), and surface-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy (SEFS). Critical to this research is to study ways to use these spectroscopies in a sensor device for identification of pathogens, microorganisms and other pathological states. This research could provide rapid and early qualitative diagnostics of microbial diseases, as well as early discrimination between infections to facilitate rapid treatment as part of a preventive health strategy.

Dr. Bravo-Vasquez is also examining specifically developed bar-coded polymers with characteristic spectroscopic signatures for fabrication of random microarray and self assembling materials for fabrication of SAMs based biosensors.

Employment                           

• Research Council Officer, NINT, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta. 2006-Present.
• GHI Research Associate, NINT, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta. 2005-Present.
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cornell University, Materials Science and Engineering, Ithaca, New York, USA. 2002-2005.

Education

• PhD, Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia. 2002.                           

Highlights                                       

• Published 16 papers and 8 proceedings in the areas of thin films deposition, polymers for advanced lithography, spectroscopic biodetection and combinatorial chemistry.
• Four U.S. Patents in advanced materials deposition including:
  Juan Pablo Bravo-Vasquez and Ross H. Hill. Photolytic conversion process to form patterned amorphous film. US Patent 6,849,305, 2005. 
  Juan Pablo Bravo-Vasquez and Ross H. Hill. Method for the deposition of materials from mesomorphous films. US Patent 6,777,036, 2004. 
  Juan Pablo Bravo-Vasquez and Ross H. Hill. Method for the lithographic deposition of materials containing nanoparticles. US Patent 6,458,431, 2002.

Contact Information

11421 Saskatchewan Drive
NINT Building, Room 2-090
Edmonton, AB T6G 2M9
Phone: 780-641-1754
Fax: 780-641-1601
E-mail: Juan-Pablo.Bravo-Vasquez@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca