Nanotechnology News and Research

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Review of drug delivery market

Combating losses due to patent expiries has become a high priority for pharmaceutical companies. Investing in new drug delivery technologies is becoming a critical strategy for them to maintain a strong presence in this cut-throat market as they offer the potential to enhance the life cycle of established drugs.

18 Sep 2008

Carbon nanotube coating improves electrical stimulation therapy used for Parkinson's, depression, chronic pain

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have designed a way to improve electrical stimulation of nerves by outfitting electrodes with the latest in chemically engineered fashion: a coating of basic black, formed from carbon nanotubes.

16 Sep 2008

Scientists develop nanometer-sized 'cargo ships' to target and destroy tumors

Scientists have developed nanometer-sized 'cargo ships' that can sail throughout the body via the bloodstream without immediate detection from the body's immune radar system and ferry their cargo of anti-cancer drugs and markers into tumors that might otherwise go untreated or undetected.

11 Sep 2008

New nanotechnology paints for hospitals could kill superbugs

New nanotechnology paints for walls, ceilings, and surfaces could be used to kill hospital superbugs when fluorescent lights are switched on, scientists heard today (Wednesday 10 September 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin.

9 Sep 2008

Dual-mode nanoparticles image tumors using MRI and PET

Medical imaging represents one of the most used and useful procedures in the oncologist's diagnostic toolkit, even though each of the most useful techniques-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography x-ray imaging (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning-has its own set of limitations.

17 Aug 2008

New plastic film to tackle E. coli

Chemical Engineers in Switzerland have created a plastic film that's up to 1000 times more effective at killing E. coli bacteria cells than conventional methods.

14 Aug 2008

NanoBio vaccine for hepatitis B shows promise

Chronic hepatitis B infects 400 million people worldwide, many of them children. Even with three effective vaccines available, hepatitis B remains a stubborn, unrelenting health problem, especially in Africa and other developing areas. The disease and its complications cause an estimated 1 million deaths globally each year.

13 Aug 2008

Nanowires from DNA

For millions of years nature has been optimizing DNA - in all living creatures this biomolecule is responsible for storing genetic information.

10 Aug 2008

Researchers step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is a step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors, similar to the tumor that Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering from.

14 Jul 2008

Nanomaterials key to new strategies for blocking metastasis

A new treatment strategy using targeted nanoparticles to block metastasis with anti-cancer drugs leads to good results using significantly lower doses of toxic chemotherapy, with less collateral damage to surrounding tissue, according to a collaborative team of researchers at the Center of Nanotechnology for Treatment, Understanding, and Monitoring of Cancer at the University of California, San Diego. In designing this system, the investigators, led by David Cheresh, Ph.D., have identified what may become a generic method for using nanotechnology to target metastasis.

9 Jul 2008

Circulating tumor cells can reveal genetic signature of dangerous lung cancers

Using a miniature laboratory-on-a-chip device, a team of investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital, led by Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D., and Mehmet Toner, Ph.D., both members of the MIT-Harvard Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE), has developed a method that detects and analyzes the genetic signature of rare tumor cells in the bloodstream.

9 Jul 2008

Gene silencer and quantum dots reduce protein production to a whisper

More than 15 years ago, scientists discovered a way to stop a particular gene in its tracks. The Nobel Prize-winning finding holds tantalizing promise for medical science, but so far it has been difficult to apply the technique, known as RNA interference, in living cells.

9 Jul 2008

Nanotechnology, biomolecules, and light unite to "cook" cancer cells

Using carbon nanotubes linked to tumor-homing antibodies, a research team headed by Ellen Vitetta, Ph.D., M.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has shown that they can specifically kill the targeted tumor cells using near-infrared light. This work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

9 Jul 2008

Holey nanoparticles create new tumor imaging and therapeutic agent

Using a polymer that has both water-soluble and water-insoluble regions, a team of investigators from the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence has created a nanoparticle shaped like a bialy, a close relative of the bagel. Combining this nanoparticle with manganese, a metal that boosts magnetic resonance imaging signals, and an antibody that targets blood vessels, the investigators then created a new type of imaging agent that also has the potential to deliver drugs to tumors.

9 Jul 2008

Nanoparticles detect telomerase activity

Telomerase, an enzyme that prevents chromosomes from shortening when they divide, is widely suspected of playing a key role in making cancer cells immortal.

9 Jul 2008

Nanocantilevers image nanoparticles in cells

Borrowing from a Nobel Prize-winning technique credited with starting the nanotechnology revolution, a team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Northwestern University's Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics has developed a method for imaging nanoparticles inside of cells.

9 Jul 2008

Improving quantum dot synthesis

Materials researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a simplified, low-cost process for producing high-quality, water-soluble quantum dots for biomedical applications.

9 Jul 2008

Smart nanoparticle bomb precisely targets a tumour's blood vessels

A team of researchers in the U.S. have developed a nanoparticle with the ability to precisely deliver cancer-fighting drugs.

9 Jul 2008

Quantum dot nanoparticles can penetrate skin through minor abrasions

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that quantum dot nanoparticles can penetrate the skin if there is an abrasion, providing insight into potential workplace concerns for healthcare workers or individuals involved in the manufacturing of quantum dots or doing research on potential biomedical applications of the tiny nanoparticles.

2 Jul 2008

Laser "microscalpel" to target individual cancer cells

Mechanical engineering Assistant Professor Adela Ben-Yakar at The University of Texas at Austin has developed a laser "microscalpel" that destroys a single cell while leaving nearby cells intact, which could improve the precision of surgeries for cancer, epilepsy and other diseases.

24 Jun 2008