A free public lecture at Brock will explore ultrafast lasers and their use in capturing atomic motion and in surgical treatments for diseases such as cancer.

“From Basic Science to Star Trek Surgery” takes place Friday, March 22 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Goodman Atrium, GSB 275. The discussion will be led by R.J. Dwayne Miller, a Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the University of Toronto and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Royal Society (London).

Miller’s research on physical chemistry and biophysics has enabled real-time observation and documentation of the movement of atoms and molecules in materials during chemical processes and has shed light on the relationship between structure and function in biology.

He is most widely known for his work in the development of new ultrabright femtosecond electron sources to literally light up atomic motions in real time.

“Imagine filming atom or molecule motion with a camera shutter time in less than one trillionth second, which is a trillion times faster than we blink,” says Jianbo Gao, Brock University Assistant Professor of Chemistry, who invited Miller to speak at Brock and was inspired by his work as a PhD student.

In his talk, Miller will discuss how his research group created the first atomic movies to directly observe the essence of structural transitions, revealing how to avoid shock waves and collateral damage in laser-driven phases transitions such as cutting.

“This new insight enabled laser surgery to finally realize the ultimate single cell limit to minimally invasive surgery — and without scar tissue formation,” says Miller. “Beyond scar-free surgery, it now looks like we can do site-selective drug delivery anywhere in the body to treat cancers with 10,000 times less drugs to avoid the horrors of side effects in chemotherapy.”

In addition to his significant contributions and achievements in academia, industry and science education, Miller is an entrepreneur who applies novel fundamental research into the laser, biodiagnostics and medical fields. He has launched eight businesses and has collaborations and technology spinoffs involving nearly a dozen companies.

“The technology is at the heart of two startups, and one procedure is going through clinical trials, with the promise of enabling scar-free surgery with broad medical applications,” he says. “Typically, it is difficult to trace advances in basic science to specific applications or advances, but in this case, it is a straight line.”

For more information on “From Basic Science to Star Trek Surgery,” and to reserve a seat, visit ExperienceBU.