Collaborators from North Carolina State University and Duke University have developed a method to remotely manipulate cells and other tiny objects in a liquid medium using magnets and what looks like articulating microscopic Lego blocks. The technology, relying on magnetic fields to control and power combinations of blocks to move together, doesn’t require any direct […]
Tag: Nanomedicine
Ultrasound Controls Delivery of Local Anesthetic Just When and Where It Hurts
Localized pain caused by disease, injury, or surgery can be hard to control, and it leads too many people to use opioids. Though there are electronic and physical methods that can help manage some pain, these are typically only marginally effective and usually only work on targets close to the skin. Now a team from […]
Researchers Induce Skin to Turn to Nerves and Vessels In-Vivo
Over the last couple of decades researchers have figured out how to induce stem cells to turn into different types of tissues, and have even managed to convert skin cells into other types of cells. This is still a long and meticulous laboratory process that requires a lot of precision and attention to detail. Now […]
New Tissue Glue Can be Clearly Seen With X-Rays and Ultrasound
Researchers at Korea’s Institute for Basic Science and Seoul National University Hospital have designed and tested a glue for binding tissues that also works as a contrast agent for X-rays, CTs, and ultrasound imaging modalities. This is the first such tissue glue to have this set of properties, and, if approved for clinical applications, may end […]
New Exhaled Breath Sensor to Spot Diseases, Monitor Health
At KAIST, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, researchers have developed a new breath sensor that uses protein-encapsulated nanocatalysts to spot certain biomarkers of diseases. While the breath can hold a lot of information about what’s going on inside the body, the variety of gasses present and the large amount of […]
Breathable, Flexible Electronics Allow Long Term On-Skin Health Monitoring
At the University of Tokyo in Japan researchers have developed a new method of producing stretchable electronics that are breathable, don’t irritate the skin, and weigh next to nothing. The development may lead to ubiquitous use of on-skin electronic sensors to monitor the body continuously in a variety of places and ways. The research team […]
Medical Device Coating Points To and Kills Bacteria
Researchers at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) in Saudi Arabia, not to be confused with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), have developed a special nanoparticle coating that can be used to give the surfaces of medical devices antibacterial properties. The coating is made of gold nanoclusters containing lysozyme enzymes, […]
Toxic Nanoparticles Coated with Antibiotics Safely Kill Drug Resistant Bacteria
A team of Brazilian scientists may have come up with a practical way of killing off resistant bacteria by targeting them with toxic silver-silica nanoparticles coated with an antibiotic. Since antibiotics don’t have the full punch to eliminate bacteria resistant to them, the researchers instead used the antibiotic ampicillin as a mechanism to deliver the killer nanoparticles to […]
Using Light to Activate Genes and Kill Cancer
Scientists at Kyoto University in Japan have developed a gene delivery system, involving gold nanorods and a near infrared laser, which can transport a gene into cells and activate it. Changing gene expression is a powerful way to affect cell behavior, and scientists hope to use this approach to treat a variety of diseases. Researchers […]
Georgia Tech Researchers May Have Developed Technology to Prevent Cancer Metastasis
Cancer cells rely on their cytoskeletons to move away from where they are born, resulting in metastasis of the cancer. This process has been a challenge to prevent, but doing so can go a long way toward successfully killing cancers before they’re allowed to spread. Researchers at Georgia Tech are now reporting in Proceedings of the National […]
Tiny Barometric Sensor to Detect Presence of Disease Biomarkers
Researchers from Jinan University in Guangzhou, China and Washington State University have developed a novel type of sensor that works by measuring pressure changes induced by the production of oxygen (O2). The technology may miniaturize and make readily available testing of a wide variety of biomarkers. The team of researchers has already demonstrated how the […]
Exosomes, The Elusive Tiny Vesicles Produced by Cells, Have Lots of Potential for Medicine
Exosomes are tiny capsules (30-130 nanometers) produced by cells that seem to be involved in all sorts of processes within the body, but only lately have they been properly studied. Because these natural nanoparticles are involved in many different biochemical processes, they may be relevant for a wide variety of clinical applications including diagnostics, therapy, […]
Newly Designed Nanorods Act as Dual Imaging Agents for Improved Diagnostics and Surgical Use
Scientists at the PNG College of Technology have developed new nanoscale rods that may be an effective dual-mode imaging agent for detecting cancer. The nanorods can be seen using both magnetic resonance and optical imaging techniques. Combining the two offers potentially better localization results during pre-op imaging, but can also allow for easy to use […]
Electronic Barcoding of Microparticles to Help Bring Disease Biomarker Detection out of Lab
As research is progressing in understanding human diseases, it turns out that many conditions have related biomarkers that show up in the blood and other body fluids. Being able to continuously monitor for the presence of disease biomarkers outside a clinical setting may allow for early detection of cancer and other diseases. Researchers at Rutgers University […]
Ultrasound Activates Nanoparticle Aggregates for Selective Drug Delivery
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute have developed a nanoparticle aggregate system that releases a drug when it is dispersed using ultrasound. This means that it can be used to deliver toxic chemotherapy drugs directly to a tumor while reducing side-effects in healthy tissues. Normally, many tumors are treated using chemotherapy drugs that travel throughout […]
Groups of Nanoparticles Powered by a Magnet Team Up to Kill Cancer Cells
Number of ways have been developed that allow nanoparticles to kill cancer cells. Some of these include delivering chemo agents, converting electromagnetic energy beamed into heat, and manipulating with the signaling processes of tumor cells. An international team of researchers is now reporting in journal Theranostics a way of bunching iron oxide particles doped with zinc […]
Nanoparticles Feature Two Mechanisms to Boost Effectiveness of Immunotherapy to Fight Cancer
Immunotherapy techniques for fighting cancer generally fall into two categories: preventing tumor cells from evading the immune system’s T cells and summoning T cells to attack the tumors. Now scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed nanoparticles that perform both tasks at the same time, significantly improving the effectiveness of immunotherapy in a […]
Magnets and Nanoparticles for On-Demand Leaky Vessels
Scientists at Rice University have developed a method to open gaps between the endothelial cells that line blood vessels using a magnetic field and iron oxide nanoparticles. The gaps close by themselves after the researchers remove the magnets. They hope that the concept could be used to help deliver larger therapeutic molecules like proteins to […]
Chemical Engineers Help Nanoparticles Better Target Brain Tumors
Getting drugs into the brain by cloaking them within nanoparticles that can sneak through the blood-brain barrier has been the focus of a lot of nanotechnology research over the past few years. There’s quite a bit of progress toward that goal, including some notable successes. Because of this progress, scientists are coming to the realization […]
Molecular Mechanism Shoots Drugs When Specific Antibody Detected
Researchers from the University of Montreal, Canada and University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy have developed a molecular “slingshot” capable of firing a drug into the nearby environment when triggered by a biochemical marker. The slingshot is actually a helix of synthetic DNA the ends of which are designed to stick to a particular antibody. When […]