#Magnetic nanoparticles could be key to effective immunotherapy: New method moves promising strategy closer to clinical use Abstract:
and training the body's own immune system to better fight cancer and infection. Now, results of a study led by Johns Hopkins investigators suggests that a device composed of a magnetic column paired with custom-made magnetic nanoparticles may hold a key to bringing immunotherapy into widespread and successful clinical use.
A summary of the research, conducted in mouse and human cells, appears online July 14 in the journal ACS Nano.
The Johns Hopkins team focused on training and rapidly multiplying immune system white blood cells known as T cells because of their potential as an effective weapon against cancer,
according to Jonathan Schneck, M d.,Ph d.,a professor of pathology, medicine and oncology at the Johns hopkins university School of medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering."
"The challenge has been to train these cells efficiently enough, and get them to divide fast enough,
that we could use them as the basis of a therapy for cancer patients. We've taken a big step toward solving that problem,
"he says. In a bid to simplify and streamline immune cellular therapies, Schneck, Karlo Perica,
a recent M d./Ph d. graduate who worked in Schneck's lab, and others worked with artificial white blood cells.
These so-called artificial antigen-presenting cells (aapcs) were pioneered by Schneck's lab and have shown promise in activating laboratory animals'immune systems to attack cancer cells.
To do that Perica explains, the aapcs must interact with naive T cells already present in the body,
awaiting instructions about which specific invader to target and battle. The aapcs bind to specialized receptors on the T cells'surfaces
and"present"them with distinctive proteins called antigens. This process activates the T cells to ward off a virus, bacteria or tumor,
as well as to make more T cells. In a previous study in mice, Schneck's team found that naive T-cells activated more effectively when multiple aapcs bound to different receptors on the cells,
and then were exposed to a magnetic field. The magnets brought the aapcs and their receptors closer together
priming the T cells both to battle the target cancer and divide to form more activated cells.
The team mixed blood plasma from mice and, separately humans with magnetic aapcs bearing antigens from tumors.
They then ran the plasma through a magnetic column. The tumor-fighting T cells bound to aapcs and stuck to the sides of the column,
while other cells washed straight through and were discarded. The magnetic field of the column activated the T cells,
which were washed then off into a nourishing broth, or culture, to grow and divide. After one week, their numbers had expanded by an estimated 5, 000 to 10,000 times.
Because numbers of these cells could be expanded quickly enough to be therapeutically useful the approach could open the door to individualized immunotherapy treatments that rely on a patient's own cells,
which relies on other white blood cells called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Those cells are trained already"to fight cancer,
and researchers have shown some success isolating some of the cells from tumors, inducing them to divide,
and then transferring them back into patients. But, Schneck says, not all patients are eligible for this therapy,
because not all have tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. By contrast, all people have naive T cells, so patients with cancer could potentially benefit from the new approach
whether or not they have tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.""The aapcs and magnetic column together provide the foundation for simplifying
and streamlining the process of generating tumor-specific T cells for use in immunotherapy, "says Juan carlos Varela, M d.,Ph d,
. a former member of Schneck's laboratory who is now an assistant professor at the Medical University of South carolina.
The researchers found that the technique also worked with a mixture of aapcs bearing multiple antigens,
which they say could help combat the problem of tumors mutating to evade the body's defenses."
"We get multiple shots on the goal, "Schneck says. While the team initially tested the new method only on cancer antigens,
Schneck says it could also potentially work for therapies against chronic infectious diseases, such as HIV. He says that
if further testing goes well, clinical trials of the technique could begin within a year and a half.##
###Other authors on the study are Joan Glick Bieler, Christian Schutz, Jacqueline Douglass, Andrew Skora, Yen Ling Chiu, Mathias Oelke, Kenneth Kinzler, Shibin
This work was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases (grant numbers AI072677 and AI44129),
the National Institute of General Medical sciences (grant number GM 07309), the National Cancer Institute (grant numbers CA 43460, CA 62924, CA 09243 and CA108835), the Troper Wojcicki
Foundation, the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, the Sol Goldman Center for Pancreatic cancer Research,
Under a licensing agreement between Neximmune and the Johns hopkins university, Jonathan Schneck and Mathias Oelke are entitled to a share of royalty received by the University on sales of products derived from this article.
The terms of this arrangement are being managed by the Johns hopkins university in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.##
'410-955-8236copyright Johns Hopkins Medicineissuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
News and information Agilent technologies and A*STAR's Bioprocessing Technology Institute Collaborate on New Bioanalytical Methodologies July 15th, 2015for faster,
2015nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015better memory with faster lasers July 14th, 2015cancer Nanospheres shield chemo drugs,
safely release high doses in response to tumor secretions July 14th, 2015chemotherapeutic coatings enhance tumor-frying nanoparticles:
Duke university researchers add a drug delivery mechanism to a nanoparticle therapy already proven to target,
heat and destroy tumors July 13th, 2015super graphene can help treat cancer July 10th, 2015govt. -Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy Researchers Build a Transistor from a Molecule and A few Atoms July 14th, 2015world first:
Significant development in the understanding of macroscopic quantum behavior: Researchers from Polytechnique Montral and Imperial College London demonstrate the wavelike quantum behavior of a polariton condensate on a macroscopic scale and at room temperature July 14th, 2015nanospheres shield chemo drugs,
safely release high doses in response to tumor secretions July 14th, 2015better memory with faster lasers July 14th,
2015nanomedicine Agilent technologies and A*STAR's Bioprocessing Technology Institute Collaborate on New Bioanalytical Methodologies July 15th, 2015nanospheres shield chemo drugs,
safely release high doses in response to tumor secretions July 14th, 2015chemotherapeutic coatings enhance tumor-frying nanoparticles:
Duke university researchers add a drug delivery mechanism to a nanoparticle therapy already proven to target,
heat and destroy tumors July 13th, 2015magnetic hyperthermia, an auxiliary tool in cancer treatments July 8th, 2015discoveries For faster,
larger graphene add a liquid layer July 15th, 2015nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015better memory with faster lasers July 14th,
2015polymer mold makes perfect silicon nanostructures July 14th, 2015announcements Agilent technologies and A*STAR's Bioprocessing Technology Institute Collaborate on New Bioanalytical Methodologies July 15th, 2015for faster,
larger graphene add a liquid layer July 15th, 2015nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015polymer mold makes perfect silicon nanostructures July 14th, 2015interviews/Book reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers For faster,
larger graphene add a liquid layer July 15th, 2015delmic reports on a new review paper published in Nature Methods on Correlated Light
& Electron microscopy from their user groups at the Universities of Delft and Groningen July 14th, 2015global Sol-Gel Nanocoatings Industry 2015:
Acute Market Reports July 14th, 2015density-near-zero acoustical metamaterial made in China: Researchers create a tunable membrane'metamaterial'with near-zero density,
effectively recreating the quantum tunneling effect for sound waves July 14th, 2015patents/IP/Tech Transfer/Licensing Nanospheres shield chemo drugs,
safely release high doses in response to tumor secretions July 14th, 2015globalfoundries Completes Acquisition of IBM Microelectronics Business:
Transaction adds differentiating technologies, world-class technologists, and intellectual property July 1st, 2015nei Announces the Issuance of Multiple Patents on Self-Healing & Superhydrophobic Coatings June 30th,
2015high-tech nanofibres could help nutrients in food hit the spot June 17th, 2015grants/Awards/Scholarships/Gifts/Contests/Honors/Records Nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015better memory with faster lasers July 14th, 2015simpore, Uofr,
RIT Collaborate to Improve Blood Dialysis Filters July 8th, 2015miniature Technology, Large-scale Impact: Winner of the 2015 Lindros Award for translational medicine, Kjeld Janssen is pushing the boundaries of the emerging lab-on-a-chip technology July 7th, 201 0
#Nanowires give'solar fuel cell'efficiency a tenfold boost: Eindhoven researchers make important step towards a solar cell that generates hydrogen A solar cell that produces fuel rather than electricity.
Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and FOM Foundation today present a very promising prototype of this in the journal Nature Communications.
The material gallium phosphide enables their solar cell to produce the clean fuel hydrogen gas from liquid water.
Processing the gallium phosphide in the form of very small nanowires is novel and helps to boost the yield by a factor of ten.
And does so using ten thousand times less precious material. The electricity produced by a solar cell can be used to set off chemical reactions.
If this generates a fuel then one speaks of solar fuels-a hugely promising replacement for polluting fuels.
One of the possibilities is to split liquid water using the electricity that is generated (electrolysis.
Among oxygen, this produces hydrogen gas that can be used as a clean fuel in the chemical industry
or combusted in fuel cells-in cars for example-to drive engines. Solar fuel cell To connect an existing silicon solar cell to a battery that splits the water may well be an efficient solution now
but it is a very expensive one. Many researchers are therefore targeting their search at a semiconductor material that is able to both convert sunlight into an electrical charge and split the water, all in one;
a kind of'solar fuel cell'.'Researchers at TU/e and FOM see their dream candidate in gallium phosphide (Gap),
a compound of gallium and phosphide that also serves as the basis for specific colored leds.
A tenfold boost Gap has good electrical properties but the drawback that it cannot easily absorb light
when it is a large flat surface as used in Gap solar cells. The researchers have overcome this problem by making a grid of very small Gap nanowires, measuring five hundred nanometers (a millionth of a millimeter) long and ninety nanometers thick.
This immediately boosted the yield of hydrogen by a factor of ten to 2. 9 percent.
A record for Gap cells even though this is still some way off the fifteen percent achieved by silicon cells coupled to a battery.
Ten thousand times less material According to Bakkers, it's not simply about the yield-where there is still a lot of scope for improvement he points out:"
"For the nanowires we needed ten thousand less precious Gap material than in cells with a flat surface.
That makes these kinds of cells potentially a great deal cheaper, "Bakkers says.""In addition, Gap is also able to extract oxygen from the water
-so you then actually have a fuel cell in which you can temporarily store your solar energy.
In short, for a solar fuels future we cannot ignore gallium phosphide any longer
#UCLA study could lead to a new class of materials for making LEDS: Researchers are first to demonstrate electroluminescence from multilayer molybdenum disulfide Over the last decade, advances in the technology of light-emitting diodes,
or LEDS, have helped to improve the performance of devices ranging from television and computer screens to flashlights.
As the uses for LEDS expand, scientists continue to look for ways to increase their efficiency
while simplifying how they are manufactured. A new study by researchers from the California Nanosystems Institute at UCLA is the first demonstration of electroluminescence from multilayer molybdenum disulfide,
or Mos2, a discovery that could lead to a new class of materials for making LEDS.
The study led by Xianfeng Duan, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, was published in the journal Nature Communications on July 1, 2015.
In its single-layer form, molybdenum disulfide is optically active, meaning that it emits light
when electric current is run through it or when it is shot with a nondestructive laser. Multilayer molybdenum disulfide, by contrast, is easier and less expensive to produce,
but it is not normally luminescent. In the new study, Duan and first author Dehui Li, a postdoctoral scholar in Duan lab, created the first multilayer molybdenum disulfide device that shows strong luminescence
when electrical current is passed through it. e were trying to make a vertically stacked light-emitting device based on monolayer Mos2,
but it was difficult to get the efficiency as high as we wanted, Duan said. n the other hand,
it was rather surprising for us to discover that similar vertical devices made of multilayer Mos2 somehow showed very strong electroluminescence,
which was unexpected completely since the multilayer Mos2 is believed generally to be optically inactive. So we followed this new lead to investigate the underlying mechanism and the potential of multilayer Mos2 in light-emitting devices.
Duan and his team used a technique called electric field-induced enhancement, which relocates the electrons from a dark state to a luminescent state,
thereby increasing the material ability to convert electrons into light particles, or photons. With this technique, the multilayer Mos2 semiconductors are at least as efficient as monolayer ones.
Duan team is currently moving forward to apply this approach to similar materials, including tungsten diselenide, molybdenum diselenide and tungsten disulphide,
#An easy, scalable and direct method for synthesizing graphene in silicon microelectronics: Korean researchers grow 4-inch diameter, high-quality, multi-layer graphene on desired silicon substrates,
an important step for harnessing graphene in commercial silicon microelectronics Abstract: In the last decade, graphene has been studied intensively for its unique optical, mechanical, electrical and structural properties.
The one-atom-thick carbon sheets could revolutionize the way electronic devices are manufactured and lead to faster transistors, cheaper solar cells, new types of sensors and more efficient bioelectric sensory devices.
As a potential contact electrode and interconnection material, wafer-scale graphene could be an essential component in microelectronic circuits,
but most graphene fabrication methods are not compatible with silicon microelectronics, thus blocking graphene's leap from potential wonder material to actual profit-maker.
Now researchers from Korea University in Seoul, have developed an easy and microelectronics-compatible method to grow graphene
and have synthesized successfully wafer-scale (four inches in diameter), high-quality, multi-layer graphene on silicon substrates.
The method is based on an ion implantation technique, a process in which ions are accelerated under an electrical field and smashed into a semiconductor.
The impacting ions change the physical, chemical or electrical properties of the semiconductor. In a paper published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing,
the researchers describe their work, which takes graphene a step closer to commercial applications in silicon microelectronics."
"For integrating graphene into advanced silicon microelectronics, large-area graphene free of wrinkles, tears and residues must be deposited on silicon wafers at low temperatures,
which cannot be achieved with conventional graphene synthesis techniques as they often require high temperatures, "said Jihyun Kim, the team leader and a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological engineering at Korea University."
"Our work shows that the carbon ion implantation technique has great potential for the direct synthesis of wafer-scale graphene for integrated circuit technologies."
"Discovered just over a decade ago, graphene is considered now the thinnest, lightest and strongest material in the world.
Graphene is completely flexible and transparent while being inexpensive and nontoxic, and it can conduct electricity as well as copper,
carrying electrons with almost no resistance even at room temperature, a property known as ballistic transport. Graphene's unique optical, mechanical and electrical properties have lead to the one-atom-thick form of carbon being heralded as the next generation material for faster, smaller, cheaper and less power-hungry electronics."
"In silicon microelectronics, graphene is a potential contact electrode and an interconnection material linking semiconductor devices to form the desired electrical circuits,
"said Kim.""This renders high processing temperature undesirable, as temperature-induced damage, strains, metal spiking
and unintentional diffusion of dopants may occur.""Thus, although the conventional graphene fabrication method of chemical vapor deposition is used widely for the large-area synthesis of graphene on copper and nickel films,
the method is suited not for silicon microelectronics, as chemical vapor deposition would require a high growth temperature above 1,
000 degrees Celsius and a subsequent transfer process of the graphene from the metallic film to the silicon."
"The transferred graphene on the target substrate often contains cracks, wrinkles and contaminants,"said Kim."
"Thus, we are motivated to develop a transfer-free method to directly synthesize high quality, multilayer graphene in silicon microelectronics."
a microelectronics-compatible technique normally used to introduce impurities into semiconductors. In the process, carbon ions were accelerated under an electrical field
The process is followed then by high temperature activation annealing (about 600 to 900 degrees Celsius) to form a honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms, a typical microscopic structure of graphene.
This objective was achieved by creating a homogenous coating made of a nanocomposite of zinc oxide/nitrogen silver (N-Ag/Zno) on the fabrics.
the processing of the woolen fabric samples by using optimum amount of honeycomb nanocomposite such as N-Ag/Zno improves the biological, mechanical and hydrophilicity of the fabrics.
Among the other advantages of the use of this nanocomposite in the production of fabrics, mention can be made of creating a delay in flammability,
and decreasing the alkaline and acidic solubility without creating the cellular toxicity. Results of the research have applications in textile, polymer,
and ceramic industries and in other applicable surfaces. They can also be used in medical and military industries.
Ultrasonic bath has been used in the finishing process of the fabrics. By using the bath the process is carried out in one stage at low temperature at shorter time.
Ultrasonic waves are also the cause of the homogenous distribution of simultaneous charges of silver and nitrogen on the surfaces of zinc oxide nanoparticles.
Finally, the abovementioned properties are created in the final product by processing of the woolen fabrics with the nanocomposite.
#Rice university finding could lead to cheap, efficient metal-based solar cells: Plasmonics study suggests how to maximize production of'hot electrons'Abstract:
New research from Rice university could make it easier for engineers to harness the power of light-capturing nanomaterials to boost the efficiency
and reduce the costs of photovoltaic solar cells. Although the domestic solar-energy industry grew by 34 percent in 2014,
if the U s. is to meet its national goal of reducing the cost of solar electricity to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour.
In a study published July 13 in Nature Communications, scientists from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) describe a new method that solar-panel designers could use to incorporate light-capturing nanomaterials into future designs.
LANP graduate student Bob Zheng and postdoctoral research associate Alejandro Manjavacas created a methodology that solar engineers can use to determine the electricity-producing potential for any arrangement of metallic nanoparticles.
LANP researchers study light-capturing nanomaterials, including metallic nanoparticles that convert light into plasmons, waves of electrons that flow like a fluid across the particles'surface.
For example, recent LANP plasmonic research has led to breakthroughs in color-display technology, solar-powered steam production and color sensors that mimic the eye."
"One of the interesting phenomena that occurs when you shine light on a metallic nanoparticle or nanostructure is that you can excite some subset of electrons in the metal to a much higher energy level,
"said Zheng, who works with LANP Director and study co-author Naomi Halas.""Scientists call these'hot carriers'or'hot electrons.'"
'"Halas, Rice's Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer engineering and professor of chemistry, bioengineering, physics and astronomy,
and materials science and nanoengineering, said hot electrons are particularly interesting for solar-energy applications because they can be used to create devices that produce direct current
or to drive chemical reactions on otherwise inert metal surfaces. Today's most efficient photovoltaic cells use a combination of semiconductors that are made from rare and expensive elements like gallium and indium.
Halas said one way to lower manufacturing costs would be to incorporate high-efficiency light-gathering plasmonic nanostructures with low-cost semiconductors like metal oxides.
In addition to being less expensive to make the plasmonic nanostructures have optical properties that can be controlled precisely by modifying their shape."
"We can tune plasmonic structures to capture light across the entire solar spectrum, "Halas said."
"The efficiency of semiconductor-based solar cells can never be extended in this way because of the inherent optical properties of the semiconductors."
"The plasmonic approach has been tried before but with little success. Zheng said, "Plasmonic-based photovoltaics have had typically low efficiencies,
and it hasn't been entirely clear whether those arose from fundamental physical limitations or from less than-optimal designs."
"He and Halas said Manjavacas, a theoretical physicist in the group of LANP researcher Peter Nordlander, conducted work in the new study that offers a fundamental insight into the underlying physics of hot-electron-production
in plasmonic-based devices. Manjavacas said, "To make use of the photon's energy, it must be absorbed rather than scattered back out.
For this reason, much previous theoretical work had focused on understanding the total absorption of the plasmonic system."
"He said a recent example of such work comes from a pioneering experiment by another Rice graduate student, Ali Sobhani,
where the absorption was concentrated near a metal semiconductor interface.""From this perspective, one can determine the total number of electrons produced,
but it provides no way of determining how many of those electrons are actually useful, high-energy, hot electrons,
"Manjavacas said. He said Zheng's data allowed a deeper analysis because his experimental setup selectively filtered high-energy hot electrons from their less-energetic counterparts.
To accomplish this, Zheng created two types of plasmonic devices. Each consisted of a plasmonic gold nanowire atop a semiconducting layer of titanium dioxide.
In the first setup, the gold sat directly on the semiconductor, and in the second,
a thin layer of pure titanium was placed between the gold and the titanium dioxide. The first setup created a microelectronic structure called a Schottky barrier
and allowed only hot electrons to pass from the gold to the semiconductor. The second setup allowed all electrons to pass."
"The experiment clearly showed that some electrons are hotter than others, and it allowed us to correlate those with certain properties of the system,
"Manjavacas said.""In particular, we found that hot electrons were correlated not with total absorption. They were driven by a different, plasmonic mechanism known as field-intensity enhancement."
"LANP researchers and others have spent years developing techniques to bolster the field-intensity enhancement of photonic structures for single-molecule sensing and other applications.
"This is an important step toward the realization of plasmonic technologies for solar photovoltaics. This research provides a route to increasing the efficiency of plasmonic hot-carrier devices
and shows that they can be useful for converting sunlight into usable electricity.""Additional co-authors include Hangqi Zhao and Michael Mcclain, both of Rice.
The research was supported by the Welch Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the Air force Office of Science and Research h
#More efficient process to produce graphene developed by Ben-Gurion University researchers Abstract: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and University of Western australia researchers have developed a new process to develop few-layer graphene for use in energy storage and other material applications that is faster,
potentially scalable and surmounts some of the current graphene production limitations. Graphene is a thin atomic layer of graphite (used in pencils) with numerous properties that could be valuable in a variety of applications,
including medicine, electronics and energy. Discovered only 11 years ago, graphene is one of the strongest materials in the world, highly conductive, flexible, and transparent.
However, current methods for production currently require toxic chemicals and lengthy and cumbersome processes that result in low yield that is not scalable for commercial applications.
The new revolutionary one-step high-yield generation process is detailed in the latest issue of Carbon,
H. T. Chua's group at the University of Western australia (UWA, Perth. Their ultra-bright lamp-ablation method surmounts the shortcomings
Daniel Feuermann and Jeffrey Gordon) that reconstitutes the immense brightness within the plasma of high-power xenon discharge lamps at a remote reactor,
inexpensive graphite is irradiated. The process is relatively faster, safer and green--devoid of any toxic substances (just graphite plus concentrated light.
Following this proof of concept, the BGU-UWA team is now planning an experimental program to scale up this initial success toward markedly improving the volume and rate at
#Researchers boost wireless power transfer with magnetic field enhancement Wireless power transfer works by having a transmitter coil generate a magnetic field;
a receiver coil then draws energy from that magnetic field. One of the major roadblocks for development of marketable wireless power transfer technologies is achieving high efficiency."
"Our experimental results show double the efficiency using the MRFE in comparison to air alone,
an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the work.
One of the leading candidates proposed for enhancing efficiency has been called a technology metamaterials.""We performed a comprehensive analysis using computer models of wireless power systems
and found that MRFE could ultimately be five times more efficient than use of metamaterials and 50 times more efficient than transmitting through air alone,
"Ricketts says. By placing the MRFE between the transmitter and the receiver (without touching either) as an intermediate material,
the researchers were able to significantly enhance the magnetic field, increasing its efficiency.""We realized that any enhancement needs to not only increase the magnetic field the receiver'sees,
'but also not siphon off any of the power being put out by the transmitter, "Ricketts says.""The MRFE amplifies the magnetic field
while removing very little power from the system.""The researchers conducted an experiment that transmitted power through air alone, through a metamaterial,
and through an MRFE made of the same quality material as the metamaterial. The MRFE significantly outperformed both of the others.
In addition, the MRFE is less than one-tenth the volume of metamaterial enhancers.""This could help advance efforts to develop wireless power transfer technologies for use with electric vehicles, in buildings,
or in any other application where enhanced efficiency or greater distances are important considerations, "Ricketts says s
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