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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...

Tiny particles could solve billion-dollar problem

New research from Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology finds that nanoparticles of gold and palladium are the most effective catalysts yet identified for remediation of one of the nation's most pervasive and troublesome groundwater pollutants, trichloroethene or TCE. The research, conducted by engineers at Rice and the Georgia Institute of Technology, w...

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...

Basis for DNA ejection from single phage particles

Studying phage, a primitive class of virus that infects bacteria by injecting its genomic DNA into host cells, researchers have gained insight into the driving force behind this poorly understood injection process, which has been proposed in the past to occur through the release of pressure accumulated within the viral particle itself. Almost all phages (also known as bacteriophages) are f...

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...

Breakthrough: Scientists create world's tiniest organic particles

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chemists have developed what they believe is a breakthrough method of creating the world's tiniest manufactured particles for delivering drugs and other organic materials into the human body.Adapting technology pioneered by the electronics industry in fabricating transistors, the team has figured out for the first time how to create particles for carryi...

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...

Picking particles faster than one at a time

Computer scientists and biologists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed software that can select tens of thousands of high-quality images of biological molecules from electron microgaphs, rapidly and automatically, with accuracy approaching that of experienced human analysts. The new algorithm, described as "particle picking by segmentation,"...

New journal article urges use of animal serum-free media for growing live cells

In the March issue of Trends in Biotechnology, scientists and doctors with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) recommend using only animal serum-free media to grow live cells in the laboratory. At issue is the use of fetal calf serum, which is obtained by puncturing the heart of a fetal calf without anesthesia. Recent breakthroughs permit the growth of human cells in a medium...

Nano-particles effective in killing cancer with one-two punch of chemotherapeutics

Research studies, based at the University of Pennsylvania, demonstrate that biodegradable nano-particles containing two potent cancer-fighting drugs are effective in killing human breast tumors. The unique properties of the hollow shell nano-particles, known as polymersomes, allow them to deliver two distinct drugs, paclitaxel, the leading cancer drug known by brand names such as Taxol, and doxo...

Researchers use mass spectrometry to detect norovirus particles

Scientists have used mass spectrometry for decades to determine the chemical composition of samples but rarely has it been used to identify viruses, and never in complex environmental samples. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health recently demonstrated that proteomic mass spectrometry has the potential to be applied for this purpose. Using a two-step process,...

Tiny airborne particles are a major cause of climate change

A scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and his colleagues caused a storm in the atmospheric community when they suggested a few years back that tiny airborne particles, known as aerosols, may be one of the main culprits causing climate change ?having, on a local scale, an even greater impact than the greenhouse gases effect. Attempts to understand how these particles influence clouds ha...

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...

NYU researchers decorate virus particles, showing potential to enhance MRI capabilities

Researchers at New York University have made chemical modifications to nanometer sized virus particles--a process that has the potential to improve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Their results are reported in the latest issue of Nano Letters. The study was conducted jointly by NYU's Department of Chemistry and the Department of Radiology at the NYU School of Medicine. The stu...

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...

Particle size matters to bacteria ability to immobilize heavy metals

One of the most common bacteria in the Earth, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, uses oxygen as an energy source for respiration. But in the absence of oxygen, Shewanella uses (oxy)hydroxide minerals. These metal particles may also have adsorbed heavy metals on them. As a result, Shewanella influence the mobility and bioavailability of iron and environmental contaminants like lead, cobalt, and arsenic....

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...