Bettye L.S. Maddux

Bettye L. (Smith) Maddux received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin studying the effects of the potent carcinogen, benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide on nucleosomal DNA at single nucleotide resolution. She joined the University of Oregon and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) as assistant director of SNNI in February 2006. Previously, she served as an associate specialist and research biophysicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara with joint appointments in the Materials Research Laboratory, the Department of Physics, and the Marine Biotechnology Institute. Her major research interests included studying the mechanisms controlling the biosynthesis and self assembly of biocomposite materials (e.g. coccolithophores, abalone shells, diatoms) and analyzing the nanoscale properties of strong and tough biopolymers.

She actively participates on policy issues relating to Environmental, Health and Safety needs for engineered nanoscale materials through standards and other organizations. She serves on the Advisory board of the Nanosafety Consortium for Carbon. She is a reviewer for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s EMSL Peer Review Proposal Committee and an ad hoc reviewer for the American Chemical Society. She also serves on the program committee for ONAMI's annual MicroNano Breakthrough Conference and is conference chair and organizer for SNNI’s annual Greener Nano Conference. She has published peer-reviewed research articles, a book chapter, policy-related reports and invited articles as 'Bettye L. Smith’ and more recently as ‘Bettye L.S. Maddux’ in the fields of nanotechnology, biophysics, biochemistry, materials science, and chemical carcinogenesis.

Current research interests include: NanoEHS, nanomaterial-biological interactions, shape-directing biopolymers, Nanoparticle-Cell Interactions and Intracellular Fate; Roles of Particle Surface Properties

Abalone shell, SEM of nacre tablets. Chem. Mater. 9, 1731 -1740: 1997	SEM and TEM of modular fibers that lend strength to the abalone shell. Nature 399, 761-763: 1999