Nanotechnology News and Research

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Nanoparticles may alter cell structure and pose health risks

Nanoparticles that are one milliard of a metre in size are widely used, for example, in cosmetics and food packaging materials.

16 Nov 2008

New nanofibers spun from a common blood protein to close wounds with minimal scarring

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a strong, flexible, bio-material that may be used someday to close wounds with minimal scarring and rejection by the immune system.

12 Nov 2008

Nanomatrix stent coating designed to mimic natural endothelium

A nanomatrix for stent coating designed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) mimics natural endothelium, the substance that lines blood vessels, and promises the potential to prevent post-operative tissue scaring along the blood vessel wall, greatly reducing the possibility of future thrombosis, or blockage at the stent site.

11 Nov 2008

Headphones for MP3 players interfere with heart defibrillators, pacemakers

Headphones for MP3 players placed within an inch of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) may interfere with these devices, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

10 Nov 2008

New hybrid technology for disease prevention

The earlier cancer is diagnosed, the better the chance of effecting a cure.

10 Nov 2008

Nanoparticles dramatically improve effectiveness of antibacterial treatments

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have developed a new technology which can dramatically improve the effectiveness of antibacterial treatments.

7 Nov 2008

Scientists at MIT create backpacks for cells which deliver chemotherapy agents

MIT engineers have outfitted cells with tiny "backpacks" that could allow them to deliver chemotherapy agents, diagnose tumors or become building blocks for tissue engineering.

7 Nov 2008

Starpharma's VivaGelR patent approved in Japan

Starpharma Holdings Limited today announced that one of its key patents relating to the use of dendrimers to protect against sexually transmitted infections has been approved in Japan.

29 Oct 2008

Seeing nanotubes targeting tumors in vivo

Carbon nanotubes have significant potential for delivering both imaging and therapeutic agents to tumors, but there is still a need to better quantify how well these rolled-up sheets of graphite can target tumors.

27 Oct 2008

Nanodiamond drug device could transform cancer treatment

A team of investigators at Northwestern University has developed a promising nanomaterial-based biomedical device that could be used to deliver chemotherapy drugs locally to sites where cancerous tumors have been surgically removed.

27 Oct 2008

Nanoparticles target multiple cancer genes, shrink tumors more effectively

Nanoparticles filled with small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules targeting two genes that trigger melanoma have shown that they can inhibit the development of melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer.

27 Oct 2008

New technique sees into tissue at greater depth, resolution

By coupling a kicked-up version of microscopy with gold nanoparticles, investigators at Duke University have been able to peer so deeply into living tissue that they can see molecules interacting.

27 Oct 2008

Near-infrared nanoparticles shine a bright light on cancer

A new nanoparticle-enabled imaging method for breast cancer has been developed by a team of scientists from Penn State. Their research, utilizing encapsulated fluorescent molecules in calcium phosphate nanoparticles and nontoxic near infrared (NIR) imaging, appears in the journal ACS Nano.

27 Oct 2008

New molecules with many branches will help unleash potential of nanotechnology

Materials science and the pharmaceutical industry could soon be revolutionized by emerging nanotechnologies based on designer molecules with long complex tree-and branch structures. Such molecules offer almost limitless scope for design of bespoke compounds for specific applications in disease therapy, for novel materials such as resins, as well as electronic displays, and energy storage. Almost every field involving design and synthesis of chemical compounds will be transformed by the arrival of technologies allowing nanoscale design of these branched molecules, known as hyperbranched polymers.

26 Oct 2008

FDA grants orphan drug status to new 'Trojan Horse' like Ewing's Sarcoma drug

The Cure Our Children Foundation, a nonprofit charitable foundation dedicated to children, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Orphan Drug Designation of the foundation's unique drug product for children with Ewing's Sarcoma cancer. The efforts to develop this drug were made possible by the generous volunteers and researchers in private industry and at two universities.

20 Oct 2008

Ultrafast photodynamics of DNA

DNA, the molecule that acts as the carrier of genetic information in all forms of life, is highly resistant against alteration by ultraviolet light, but understanding the mechanism for its photostability presents some puzzling problems. A key aspect is the interaction between the four chemical bases that make up the DNA molecule.

12 Oct 2008

Nanowire sensors show huge potential for point-of-care disease detection

Yale scientists have created nanowire sensors coupled with simple microprocessor electronics that are both sensitive and specific enough to be used for point-of-care (POC) disease detection, according to a report in Nano Letters.

12 Oct 2008

Ultra-sensitive nanoprobes help tackle MRSA

This week Nature Nanotechnology journal (October 12th) reveals how scientists from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at University College London are using a novel nanomechanical approach to investigate the workings of vancomycin, one of the few antibiotics that can be used to combat increasingly resistant infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

12 Oct 2008

'Lab-on-Bead' to speed drug discovery

Researchers at Wake Forest University are using nanotechnology to search for new cancer-fighting drugs through a process that could be up to 10,000 times faster than current methods.

6 Oct 2008