Gabriel A. Montano

Technical Staff Member, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
Science Thrust: Soft, Biological & Composite Nanomaterials

Phone: 505-184-8236
Fax: 505-284-7778
gbmon@lanl.gov

MPA-CINT, MS K771
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM 87545


 

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Education and Training

Undergraduate: New Mexico State University, Biology, B.S. 1997
Graduate: Arizona State University, Mol. Cell. Biology Ph.D. 2002

Research

My lab is interested in studying dynamic complexes and processes in natural and bio-synthetic phospholipid architectures.  Our efforts in natural systems focus on investigating light-harvesting  (LH) and energy transfer mechanisms in green photosynthetic bacteria.  These bacteria utilize a unique light-harvesting complex, called the chlorosome, that relies heavily on mechanisms of self-assembly, devoid of protein scaffolds, unlike other LH systems.  The unique structure and remarkable light-harvesting capability of these complexes make them model systems for investigating energy transfer phenomena.  We use molecular and cellular biology techniques to modify the natural systems and biochemical and biophysical techniques to investigate effects on light-harvesting and energy transfer function.  Synthetically, we are interested in investigating interactions of nanomaterials with phospholipid assemblies.  Our focus is on understanding health and environmental implications of nanomaterials as well as exploring how we can predict and control nano-bio interactions to create new dynamic materials.

Selected Publications

  • G. Gupta, S.B. Rathod, K.W. Staggs, L.K. Ista, K. Abbou-Cucherif, P.B. Atanassov, M.S. Tartis, G.A. Montaño, G.P. Lopez.   CVD for Facile Synthesis of Hybrid Nano-Biomaterials Integrating Functional Supramolecular Assemblies. Science.  Langmuir ( in press).
  • R. Polsky, C.M. Washburn, G.A. Montaño, H. Liu, T.L. Edwards, D.M. Lopez, J.C. Harper, S.M. Brozik, and D.R. Wheeler.  Reactive ion etching of gold nanoparticle-modified pyrolyzed photoresist films. Small (in press).X
  • J. Werner, G.A. Montaño, A Zurek, A. Garcia, E. Akhadov, G.L Lopez, A.P. Shreve. (2009) Formation and characterization of a supported phospholipid membrane on a periodic nanotextured substrate. 25(5):2986-2993.
  • A.S. Anderson, A.M. Dattelbaum, G.A. Montaño, D.N. Price, J.G. Schmidt, J.S. Martinez, W.K. Grace, K.M. Grace and B.I. Swanson. (2008) Functional PEG-modified thin-films for biological detection. Langmuir 24:2240-2247.
  • R. Martin, H.-L. Wang, S. Iyer, G.A. Montaño, J.S. Martinez, A.P. Shreve, Y. Bao, C.-C. Wang, Z. Chang, Y. Gao, J. Gao, R. Iyer.(2009) Impact of physicochemical properties of engineered fullerenes on key biological responses. Toxicology and Appl. Pharmacology 234:58-67.
  • Y. Xin, S. Lin, G.A. Montano, and R.E. Blankenship. (2005)  Purification and characterization of theB808-866 light-harvesting complexes from green non-sulfur bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus.  Photosynthesis Research 86:155-163. 

Selected User Projects

  • Silica-Phospholipid Membrane Nanocomposites: Characterization of Robust Biological Transport Systems, Gabriel Lopez, Duke University
  • Supramolecular Photosynthetic Membrane Protein Organization, Robert Blankenship, Washington University
  • Scanning probe Characterization of Chemically Patterned Addressable Surfaces at the Nano-Bio Interface, Ronen Polsky, Sandia National Laboratories