Nanoparticles News and Research

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Non-viral gene therapy delays onset of eye disease

In one of only two studies of its kind, a study from researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts demonstrates that non-viral gene therapy can delay the onset of some forms of eye disease and preserve vision. The team developed nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic genes to the retina and found that treated mice temporarily retained more eyesight than controls.

17 Aug 2010

NIDA grants Selecta Biosciences $3M to develop nicotine vaccine for smoking cessation and relapse prevention

Selecta Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing synthetic nanoparticle vaccines and immunotherapies, today announced that it has been awarded a grant for $3 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), an institute within the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The grant is aimed at advancing the development of an enhanced therapeutic nicotine vaccine for the treatment of smoking cessation and relapse prevention.

16 Aug 2010

New T cell engineering approach can improve success rate of immune-cell therapies

Clinical trials using patients' own immune cells to target tumors have yielded promising results. However, this approach usually works only if the patients also receive large doses of drugs designed to help immune cells multiply rapidly, and those drugs have life-threatening side effects. Now a team of MIT engineers has devised a way to deliver the necessary drugs by smuggling them on the backs of the cells sent in to fight the tumor. That way, the drugs reach only their intended targets, greatly reducing the risk to the patient.

16 Aug 2010

Researchers develop screening tool to observe nanoparticle reaction inside the body

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a method for predicting the ways nanoparticles will interact with biological systems - including the human body. Their work could have implications for improved human and environmental safety in the handling of nanomaterials, as well as applications for drug delivery.

16 Aug 2010

Pulse Therapeutics receives fund to develop novel magnetics technique to destroy blood clots

BioGenerator, a non-profit, seed-stage economic development funding group, today announced that it has led a round of early-stage financing for Pulse Therapeutics, Inc., a St. Louis company headquartered at the Center for Emerging Technologies. Pulse Therapeutics develops innovative magnetism-based technology to safely destroy blood clots related to ischemic stroke and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Other investors who participated in the round were Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC), Washington University's Olin School of Business Skandalaris Student Venture Fund, and Integrated Magnetics, of Culver City, California. The funds will be used for further pre-clinical development.

12 Aug 2010

Scientists develop new imaging technique to create three-dimensional images of melanoma

Melanoma is one of the less common types of skin cancer but it accounts for the majority of the skin cancer deaths (about 75 percent).The five-year survival rate for early stage melanoma is very high (98 percent), but the rate drops precipitously if the cancer is detected late or there is recurrence.So a great deal rides on the accuracy of the initial surgery, where the goal is to remove as little tissue as possible while obtaining "clean margins" all around the tumor.So far no imaging technique has been up to the task of defining the melanoma's boundaries accurately enough to guide surgery.Instead surgeons tend to cut well beyond the visible margins of the lesion in order to be certain they remove all the malignant tissue.Two scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed technologies that together promise to solve this difficult problem.

12 Aug 2010

Hybrid scanner helps to enhance visibility of skin cancer cells

Scientists are reporting development of a substance to enhance the visibility of skin cancer cells during scans with an advanced medical imaging system that combines ultrasound and light. The hybrid scanner could enable doctors to detect melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, in its earliest and most curable stages, the report in the monthly journal ACS Nano indicates.

12 Aug 2010

Venom-based nanoparticles improve gene therapy for fighting glioma

An ingredient in the venom of the "deathstalker" scorpion could help gene therapy become an effective treatment for brain cancer, scientists are reporting. The substance allows therapeutic genes - genes that treat disease - to reach more brain cancer cells than current approaches, according to the study in ACS Nano, a monthly journal.

12 Aug 2010

Scientists develop new method to enable drug release inside cancer cells

Scientists from UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute and Korea's Yonsei University have developed an innovative method that enables nanomachines to release drugs inside living cancer cells when activated remotely by an oscillating magnetic field.The new system - the first to utilize a class of porous nanomaterials driven by a magnetic core - has the potential to improve both targeted drug-delivery and magnetic resonance imaging in the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

11 Aug 2010

Breath test to detect cancer: Study

According to researchers cancer may soon be detectable using a breath test. They are now developing sensors that can detect chemical markers of lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancer in a person's breath. The new portable device has been purported as an “electronic nose” that can detect early cancers. As a cancer grows, the surface of the cells emits chemicals. The research found that sensors – involving gold nanoparticles – could be used to detect these chemicals in the breath.

10 Aug 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals reports significant progress in discovery of novel technologies for systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), The University of British Columbia (UBC), AlCana Technologies, Inc., and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation, presented results from multiple ongoing research efforts regarding the discovery of novel technologies for the systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics.

10 Aug 2010

Magnetic relaxometry with heat treatment improves treatment of tumours by nanoparticles

Those who have to fight a powerful enemy must look for allies. This is why physicists from different scientific fields have decided to cooperate with biomedical physicians in order to place the fight against cancer through heat treatment by means of magnetic nanoparticles on a solid, scientific basis. It is the objective of the cooperation to improve the success of the therapy.

9 Aug 2010

Alnylam second-quarter revenues increase to $26.6 million

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today reported its consolidated financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010, and company highlights.

5 Aug 2010

Biomedical engineering professor receives patent for Electromagnetic Probe Device

The United States Patent Office has issued a patent to Dr. Mark DeCoster, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, for his invention of an "Electromagnetic Probe Device" - an innovative technology developed at Louisiana Tech's Institute for Micromanufacturing.

4 Aug 2010

Researchers discover first combined device for probing, detecting DNA

DNA microarrays are one of the most powerful tools in molecular biology today. The devices, which can be used to probe biological samples and detect particular genes or genetic sequences, are employed in everything from forensic analysis to disease detection to drug development.

4 Aug 2010

An overview of ESA-s Annual Meeting

Whether it is a single rock being overturned or an entire mountaintop being removed, humans play a continuous role in environmental processes, and vice versa. Ecological scientists will discuss findings on human-ecosystem interactions-from the effects of nanomaterials on plant growth to the diversity of insect species on green roofs, and even communities of airborne microbes in hospital buildings-at the Ecological Society of America's 95th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh from August 1-6, 2010. Here is just some of the research on humans and the environment to be presented:

3 Aug 2010

Toxic protein in bee venom improves liposome encapsulated drug effectiveness

The next time you are stung by a bee, here's some consolation: a toxic protein in bee venom, when altered, significantly improves the effectiveness liposome-encapsulated drugs or dyes, such as those already used to treat or diagnose cancer. This research, described in the August 2010 print issue of the FASEB Journal, shows how modified melittin may revolutionize treatments for cancer and perhaps other conditions, such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and serious infections.

3 Aug 2010

Particles of iron oxide enhance tumor visibility through MRI

Tiny particles of iron oxide could become tools for simultaneous tumor imaging and treatment, because of their magnetic properties and toxic effects against brain cancer cells. In mice, researchers from Emory University School of Medicine have demonstrated how these particles can deliver antibodies to implanted brain tumors, while enhancing tumor visibility via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

3 Aug 2010

Nanotechnology approaches to solve major problems on global scale: Report

Nanotechnology refers to a broad range of tools, techniques and applications that simply involve particles on the approximate size scale of a few to hundreds of nanometers in diameter. Particles of this size have some unique physicochemical and surface properties that lend themselves to novel uses. Indeed, advocates of nanotechnology suggest that this area of research could contribute to solutions for some of the major problems we face on the global scale such as ensuring a supply of safe drinking water for a growing population, as well as addressing issues in medicine, energy, and agriculture.

29 Jul 2010

Scientists unveil nanoparticle for photoacoustic imaging

Spotting a single cancerous cell that has broken free from a tumor and is traveling through the bloodstream to colonize a new organ might seem like finding a needle in a haystack. But a new imaging technique from the University of Washington is a first step toward making this possible.UW researchers have developed a multifunctional nanoparticle that eliminates the background noise, enabling a more precise form of medical imaging - essentially erasing the haystack, so the needle shines through. A successful demonstration with photoacoustic imaging was reported today (July 27) in the journal Nature Communications.

28 Jul 2010

Nanoparticles News and Research

Non-viral gene therapy delays onset of eye disease

NIDA grants Selecta Biosciences $3M to develop nicotine vaccine for smoking cessation and relapse prevention

New T cell engineering approach can improve success rate of immune-cell therapies

Researchers develop screening tool to observe nanoparticle reaction inside the body

Pulse Therapeutics receives fund to develop novel magnetics technique to destroy blood clots

Scientists develop new imaging technique to create three-dimensional images of melanoma

Hybrid scanner helps to enhance visibility of skin cancer cells

Venom-based nanoparticles improve gene therapy for fighting glioma

Scientists develop new method to enable drug release inside cancer cells

Breath test to detect cancer: Study

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals reports significant progress in discovery of novel technologies for systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics

Magnetic relaxometry with heat treatment improves treatment of tumours by nanoparticles

Alnylam second-quarter revenues increase to $26.6 million

Biomedical engineering professor receives patent for Electromagnetic Probe Device

Researchers discover first combined device for probing, detecting DNA

An overview of ESA-s Annual Meeting

Toxic protein in bee venom improves liposome encapsulated drug effectiveness

Particles of iron oxide enhance tumor visibility through MRI

Nanotechnology approaches to solve major problems on global scale: Report

Scientists unveil nanoparticle for photoacoustic imaging

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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