Nanoparticle

DNA Molecules Used To Assemble Nanoparticles

University of Michigan researchers have developed a faster, more efficient way to produce a wide variety of nanoparticle drug delivery systems, using DNA molecules to bind the particles together. Nanometer-scaled dendrimers can be assembled in many configurations by using attached lengths of single-stranded DNA molecules, which naturally bind to other DNA strands in a highly specific fash...

Imaging Lymph Nodes with Nanoparticles

Accurate staging of cancers is one of the most important parts of thework up of patients for both prediction of prognosis and determinationof the most appropriate treatment. And an essential part of this workup is assessing wh...

Taking Aim With Nanoparticle PEBBLEs

In what sounds like a modern-day version of the David and Goliath story, University of Michigan scientists hope to slay a big killer with pebbles. In this case, the killer is not a fearsome giant, but a dreaded disease: cancer. And the pebbles are not the kind you hurl from slingshots; they're nanoscale polymer beads known as Photonic Explorers for Biomedical use with Biologically Localized Embed...

Probing The Promise And Perils Of Nanoparticles

For all its promise, the prospect of using nanoparticles in biomedical applications and consumer products has raised concerns about possible harmful effects of the miniscule materials. Scientists at the University of Michigan are addressing those concerns by investigating how certain kinds of nanoparticles damage cell membranes—enough to cause cell death in some cases—and how the damage can be pr...

Breakthrough method in nanoparticle synthesis paves the way for new pharmaceutical and biomedical applications

The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) has developed a novel method to simultaneously control the size and morphology of nanoparticles, which can be used in pharmaceutical synthesis and novel biomedical applications. This groundbreaking research was recently featured in the leading Chemistry journal, Angewandte Chemie, and a United States patent has been filed on the inv...

Probing the promise and perils of nanoparticles

For all its promise, the prospect of using nanoparticles in biomedical applications and consumer products has raised concerns about possible harmful effects of the miniscule materials. Scientists at the University of Michigan are addressing those concerns by investigating how certain kinds of nanoparticles damage cell membranes---enough to cause cell death in some cases---and how the damage can b...

Nanoparticles offer new hope for detection and treatment

Specially designed nanoparticles can reveal tiny cancerous tumors that are invisible by ordinary means of detection, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers demonstrated that very small human melanoma tumors growing in mice--indiscernible from the surrounding tissue by direct MRI scan--could be "lit up" and easily locate...

Nanoparticle Breast Cancer Drug Approved by FDA

Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine played a significant role in Food and Drug Administration approval of Abraxane (paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension), indicated for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. "The approval means that women with metastatic breast cancer no longer need to endure the toxicities associated with solvents and will...

Novel gene-silencing nanoparticles shown to inhibit Ewing's sarcoma

A novel delivery system that transports gene silencing nanoparticles into tumor cells has been shown to inhibit Ewing's sarcoma in an animal model of the disease. In this classic "Trojan horse" approach, a protein called transferrin that normally delivers iron into cells is modified to also smuggle into tumor cells siRNA (short interfering RNA) encased in nano-sized sugar polymers. The si...

Using nanoparticles, in vivo gene therapy activates brain stem cells

Using customized nanoparticles that they developed, University at Buffalo scientists have for the first time delivered genes into the brains of living mice with an efficiency that is similar to, or better than, viral vectors and with no observable toxic effect, according to a paper published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper describes how the UB scient...

Nanoparticles, nanoshells, nanotubes: How tiny specks may provide powerful tools against cancer

They're but a tiny speck, existing in a variety of forms: particles, tubes, shells, even a soccerball-like shape. They also share a common prefix: "nano," connoting their size, a billionth of a meter or roughly 25-millionth of an inch. Today, cancer researchers are exploring the potential of such nanostructures to exquisitely target cancer cells without harming surrounding tissue, and to...

Nanoparticles carry cancer-killing drugs into tumor cells

A missing receptor molecule contributes to the growth of tumors in human ovaries. This surprisingly evident connection has now been proven by a team at the Medical University of Vienna, who published their data in the science journal Molecular Cancer Research. The team, who is supported by funding from the Austrian Science Fund FWF, also discovered the possible genetic reason why the receptor mol...

NJIT study shows nanoparticles could damage plant life

A nanoparticle commonly used in industry could have a damaging effect on plant life, according to a report by an environmental scientist at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The report, published in a recent issue of "Toxicology Letters," shows that nanoparticles of alumina (aluminum oxide) slowed the growth of roots in five species of plants -- corn, cucumber, cabbage, carrot an...

Jefferson researchers find nanoparticle shows promise in reducing radiation side effects

A gene responsible for the production of a protein called vasostatin may prove a promising new way of treating pancreatic cancer, suggests research published ahead of print in Gut. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in the developed world, and is extremely difficult to treat. Only 3% of affected patients are still alive five years after diagnosis, a survival rate...

Targeted drug delivery achieved with nanoparticle-aptamer bioconjugates

Ground-breaking results from researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, disclosed at the 13th European Cancer Conference (ECCO) have shown for the first time that targeted drug delivery is possible using nanoparticle-apatamer conjugates. Nucleic acid ligands (referred to as aptamers) are short DNA or RNA fragments that can bind to target an...

Gold nanoparticles could improve antisense cancer drugs

In the fight against cancer, antisense drugs, which prevent genes from producing harmful proteins such as those that cause cancer, have the promise to be more effective than conventional drugs, but the pace of development of these new drugs has been slow. Using gold nanoparticles combined with DNA, scientists at Northwestern University now have demonstrated a new method for developing anti...

MIT nanoparticles may help detect, treat tumors

A new technique devised by MIT engineers may one day help physicians detect cancerous tumors during early stages of growth. The work appears as the cover feature in the May issue of Angewandte...

Quantum dots reviewed -- Could these nanoparticles hold the cure to cancer?

The worlds of medical and biological research are abuzz with the promises offered by nanoparticles known as semiconductor quantum dots. These Quantum Dots (QDs) have unique optical and electronic properties that make them suitable for breakthrough treatments such as the detection and destruction of cancer cells. Just released on the nanotechnology website AZoNano, is a comprehensive r...

Electric jolt triggers release of biomolecules, nanoparticles

Johns Hopkins researchers have devised a way to use a brief burst of electricity to release biomolecules and nanoparticles from a tiny gold launch pad. The technique could someday be used to dispense small amounts of medicine on command from a chip implanted in the body. The method also may be useful in chemical reactions that require the controlled release of extremely small quantities of a mat...

U-M researchers use nanoparticles to target brain cancer

Tiny particles one-billionth of a meter in size can be loaded with high concentrations of drugs designed to kill brain cancer. What's more, these nanoparticles can be used to image and track tumors as well as destroy them, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Researchers incorporated a drug called Photofrin along with iron oxide into nanoparti...

Nanoparticle assembly enters the fast lane

The speed of nanoparticle assembly can be accelerated with the assistance of the molecule that carries life's genetic instructions, DNA, a team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory recently found. Nanoparticles, particles with dimensions on the order of billionths of a meter, could potentially be used for more efficient energy generation and data storag...

Gold nanoparticles prove to be hot stuff

Gold nanoparticles are highly efficient and sensitive "handles" for biological molecules being manipulated and tracked by lasers, but they also can heat up fast--by tens of degrees in just a few nanoseconds--which could either damage the molecules or help study them, according to scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of C...

Widely used iron nanoparticles exhibit toxic effects on neuronal cells

Researchers at UC San Diego have discovered that iron-containing nanoparticles being tested for use in several biomedical applications can be toxic to nerve cells and interfere with the formation of their signal-transmitting extensions. "Iron is an essential nutrient for mammals and most life forms and iron oxide nanoparticles were generally assumed to be safe," said Sungho Jin, a profes...

Coated nanoparticles solve sticky drug-delivery problem

The layers of mucus that protect sensitive tissue throughout the body have an undesirable side effect: they can also keep helpful medications away. To overcome this hurdle, Johns Hopkins researchers have found a way to coat nanoparticles with a chemical that helps them slip through this sticky barrier. During experiments with these coated particles, the researchers also discovered that...

Nanoparticles for delivery of prostate cancer treatment

Garen and his collaborator Zhiwei Hu have...

Nanoparticles can track cells deep within living organisms

To the delight of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, living cells gobbled up fluorine-laced nanoparticles without needing any coaxing. Then, because of the unusual meal, the cells were easily located with MRI scanning after being injected into mice. Developed in the laboratories of Samuel A. Wickline, M.D., and Gregory Lanza, M.D., Ph.D., the nanoparticl...

Intravenous nanoparticle gene therapy shows activity in stage IV lung cancer

A cancer-suppressing gene has been successfully delivered into the tumors of stage 4 lung cancer patients via an intravenously administered lipid nanoparticle in a phase I clinical trial at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The gene, FUS1, also was found to be active in the metastatic non-small cell lung cancer tumors. "We've treated 13 patients in this first-in-hum...

Cancer tip -- Nanoparticles can damage DNA, increase cancer risk

Tissue studies indicate that nanoparticles, engineered materials about a billionth of a meter in size, could damage DNA and lead to cancer, according to research presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Nanoparticles are small enough to penetrate cell membranes and defenses, yet they are large enough to cause trouble by interfering with normal c...

Scientists use nanoparticle to discover disease-causing proteins

A complex molecule and snake venom may provide researchers with a more reliable method of diagnosing human diseases and developing new drugs. Purdue University researchers bound a complex nanomolecule, called a dendrimer, with a glowing identification tag that was delivered to specific proteins in living venom cells from a rattlesnake. The scientists want to find a better way to ascertain...

UCF nanoparticle offers promise for treating glaucoma

“The nanoparticle can safely get past the blood-brain barrier making it an effective non-toxic tool for drug delivery,” said Sudipta Seal, an engineering pro...

In nature, proteins sweep up nanoparticles

Here’s a pollution-control tip from nature: Deep inside a flooded mine in Wisconsin, scientists from several institutions including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a world in which bacteria emit proteins that sweep up metal nanoparticles into immobile clumps. Their finding may lead to innovative ways to remediate subsurface m...

Bacteria ferry nanoparticles into cells for early diagnosis, treatment

The approach represents a potential way to overcome hurdles in delivering cargo to the interiors of cells, where they could be used as an alterative tech...