Gold particles deliver more than just glitter
Nanoparticles could carry drugs to treat cancer, other diseases
Anne Trafton, News Office
Using tiny gold particles and infrared light, MIT researchers have developed a drug-delivery system that allows multiple drugs to be released in a controlled fashion.
The top image shows a mixture of gold nanoparticles. The longer particles are called
nanobones, and the smaller are nanocapsules. Bottom left: After the nanoparticles are
hit with 800 nanometer wavelength infrared light, the nanocapsules melt and release their payload. Nanobones remain intact. Right: After the nanoparticles are hit with 1100 nanometer
wavelength infrared light, the nanobones melt and release their payload. Nanocapsules
remain intact. Image / Andy Wijaya
Nanotubes sniff out cancer agents in living cells
Chemical engineers use carbon nanotubes to monitor chemotherapy, detect toxins at the single-molecule level
Anne Trafton, News Office
MIT engineers have developed carbon nanotubes into sensors for cancer drugs and other DNA-damaging agents inside living cells.
Sensitive Nanowire Disease Detectors Made by Yale Scientists
New Haven, Conn. — 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.
Researchers Develop Nano-Sized
‘Cargo Ships’ to Target and Destroy Tumors
By Kim McDonald
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.
A vial of anti-cancer nano ships glows red under a black light.
The particles glow red because they contain fluorescent "quantum dot"
nanoparticles.
Credit: Luo Gu, UCSD
UCLA scientists have succeeded in making unique nanoscale droplets that are much smaller than a human cell and can potentially be used to deliver pharmaceuticals.
Caltech Scientists Create DNA Tubes with Programmable Sizes for Nanoscale Manufacturing
PASADENA, Calif.--Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a simple process for mass producing molecular tubes of identical--and precisely programmable--circumferences. The technological feat may allow the use of the molecular tubes in a number of nanotechnology applications.
Beyond jewelry: Engineering new uses for gold
MIT researchers see precious metal's value in war on cancer, other applications
Anne Trafton, News Office
The glitter of gold may hold more than just beauty, or so says a team of MIT researchers that is working on ways to use tiny gold rods to fight cancer, deliver drugs and more.
Photo / Christopher Huang
Andy Wijaya, an MIT graduate student in chemical engineering,
prepares a gold nanorod solution for pump-probe spectroscopy
with (standing, left to right)postdoc Aaron Schmidt and professors
Gang Chen and Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli observing.
A new treatment strategy using molecular “smart bombs” to target 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 University of California, San Diego. By designing a “nanoparticle” drug delivery system, the UC San Diego team, led by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Director of Translational Research David Cheresh, Ph.D., has identified a way to target chemotherapy to achieve a profound impact on metastasis in pancreatic and kidney cancer in mice.
Gene Silencer and Quantum Dots Reduce Protein Production to a Whisper
Scientists at Emory University and the University of Washington in Seattle have succeeded in using nanotechnology known as quantum dots to usher gene therapy into the body.
UCLA researchers design nanomachine that kills cancer cells
'Nanoimpeller' releases anticancer drugs inside of cancer cells
By Jennifer Marcus
Researchers from the Nano Machine Center at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have developed a novel type of nanomachine that can capture and store anticancer drugs inside tiny pores and release them into cancer cells in response to light.
With a jolt, ‘nanonails’ go from repellant to wettable
by Terry Devitt
Sculpting a surface composed of tightly packed nanostructures that resemble tiny nails, University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers and their colleagues from Bell Laboratories have created a material that can repel almost any liquid.
Liquid beads on a surface composed of silicon "nanonails."
Scripps Research Scientists Develop New Method for Creating Self-Assembling, Nanoscale Materials
Results Could Advance Biomedical Screening and Microelectronics
LA JOLLA, CA, January 23, 2008—While biomedical, electronics, and other branches of research are marching steadily into the realm of the smaller-than-small nanometer scale, building needed materials at this scale has been problematic.
Penn Engineers Create Carbon Nanopipettes That Are Smaller Than Cells and Measure Electric Current
PHILADELPHIA –- University of Pennsylvania engineers and physicians have developed a carbon nanopipette thousands of times thinner than a human hair that measures electric current and delivers fluids into cells. Researchers developed this tiny carbon-based tool to probe cells with minimal intrusion and inject fluids without damaging or inhibiting cell growth.
Gold Nanoparticle Probes May Allow Earlier Cancer Detection
Using tiny gold particles embedded with dyes, researchers have shown that they can identify tumors under the skin of a living animal. These tools may allow doctors to detect and diagnose cancer earlier and less invasively
Nano-sized voltmeter measures electric fields deep within cells
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A wireless, nano-scale voltmeter developed at the University of Michigan is overturning conventional wisdom about the physical environment inside cells. It may someday help researchers tackle such tricky medical issues as why cancer cells grow out of control and how damaged nerves might be mended.
Remote-control nanoparticles deliver drugs directly into tumors
Elizabeth Dougherty, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
MIT scientists have devised remotely controlled nanoparticles that, when pulsed with an electromagnetic field, release drugs to attack tumors. The innovation, reported in the Nov. 15 online issue of Advanced Materials, could lead to the improved diagnosis and targeted treatment of cancer.
Image courtesy / Bhatia/von Maltzahn, MIT. Derfus, UCSD
Here, dark gray nanoparticles carry different drug payloads (one red, one green). A remotely generated five-minute pulse of a low-energy electromagnetic field releases the green drug but not the red. A five-minute pulse of a higher-energy electromagnetic field releases the red drug, which had been tethered using a DNA strand twice as long as the green tether, as measured in base pairs.
New Scripps Research Mass Spectrometry NanoTechnology Delivers Significant Advances
Ultra-Sensitive Technique Offers Ease of Use and Minimal Sample Preparation
LA JOLLA, CA, October 25, 2007—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a new mass spectrometry technology for studying small biomolecules. The new highly sensitive and robust technology, called Nanostructure-Initiator Mass Spectrometry (NIMS), enables the analysis of single cells, tissue imaging, and rapid blood and urine analysis with no advanced sample preparation.
Penn Engineers Design Electronic Computer Memory in Nanoscale Form That Retrieves Data 1,000 Times Faster
PHILADELPHIA -- Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have developed nanowires capable of storing computer data for 100,000 years and retrieving that data a thousand times faster than existing portable memory devices such as Flash memory and micro-drives, all using less power and space than current memory technologies.
