#Nanoparticles provide novel way to apply drugs to dental plaque Therapeutic agents intended to reduce dental plaque
and prevent tooth decay are removed often by saliva and the act of swallowing before they can take effect.
But a team of researchers has developed a way to keep the drugs from being washed away.
said Hyun Koo, a professor in the Department of Orthodontics and co-senior author of the work.
as well as other biofilm-related diseases s
#A new breakthrough in thermoelectric materials French physicist Jean Charles Athanase Peltier discovered a key concept necessary for thermoelectric (TE) temperature control in 1834.
effectively acting as a 2-D liquid("Interactions and Stress Relaxation in Monolayers of Soft Nanoparticles at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces".
onl prweb About PI PI is a leading manufacturer of precision motion control equipment, piezo motors, air bearing stages and hexapod parallel-kinematics for semiconductor applications, photonics, bio-nano-technology and medical engineering.
#Scientists use nanotechnology to visualize potential brain cancer treatments in real time (Nanowerk News) Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have developed new imaging techniques to watch dangerous brain tumor
and describes how the research team used nanotechnology to watch tumor stem cells respond to therapy. ee never been able to directly observe the actions of potential cancer treatments this way before,
a cancer biologist and an assistant professor of biomedical sciences and pathobiology at the Virginiaaryland College of Veterinary medicine. t was astounding.
Glioblastoma is a brain cancer with a poor prognosis. Even with surgical interventions or traditional treatments
some of the cells the stem cells tend to survive and grow new tumors. lioblastoma tumors are hard to target,
Sheng said. heye aggressive and resistant to therapeutics. With our imaging techniques, we may be able to gain new insights into how the cells dynamically respond to treatments.
The research team separated the hard-to-kill stem cells from the general glioblastoma population by attracting the stem cells to a microchip coated with antibodies.
The scientists then used a specially designed microfluidic chamber to trap the cells in a liquid environment.
what is used in some cancer treatments and watched the process in cell cultures using in situ transmission electron microscopy.
whether we could isolate these types of toxic cells from the other brain tumor cells, while developing new imaging tools at the single-cell level to visualize the course of therapies needed to eradicate these cells,
said Kelly, the project lead scientist and a biophysicist with extensive expertise in high-resolution imaging.
Researchers say the technology has many potential applications. ne may be able to directly observe an influenza virus, HIV,
or other human pathogens infecting a cell, or even test new cancer treatments at the cellular level, Kelly said.
Sheng pointed to another characteristic that makes cancer cells difficult to treat: broad heterogeneity. In the same cancer population, even neighboring cells can differ drastically,
and each cell can respond to treatments differently. e can look at single-cell delivery of cancer treatments,
and see how the individual cells respond, Sheng said. f we can learn how to kill these cells,
we should be able to improve our chances of developing effective treatments by being able to directly observe the effects of the possible therapeutics. e
leading to the rapid synthesis of drug derivatives for treating Parkinson's disease. Nagoya, Japan-Yutaro Saito, Yasutomo Segawa and Professor Kenichiro Itami at the Institute of Transformative Biomolecules (ITBM
"displays the development of a powerful synthetic method that enables rapid access to para-functionalized benzene derivatives to construct libraries of bioactive compounds that are useful in medicinal chemistry.
which is an anticholinergic drug used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.''Parachuting'boron onto the para-position of a benzene ring by a bulky iridium catalyst.
Caramiphen, an anticholinergic agent used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease contains a monosubstituted benzene moiety along with ester and amine groups.
In the medical field, the substance has shown activity against cancer cell lines. In cosmetics, people appreciate the good smell, in soft drinks a fine, subtle taste.
Thanks to this substance malaria is curable. Unfortunately, it could be found only in tiny quantities in the sweet wormwood-until the US researcher Jay Keasling was able to transfer the appropriate production route from the plant in bacteria.
Medical Doctors and students all around the world will be enabled to travel inside 3d cells in full color by simply downloading STEVE on their laptop declares Dr. Yann Cotte, CEO and cofounder of Nanolive SA.
#Quick, easy and early diagnosis with rare earth ions Lack of oxygen in cells is an indicator of diseases as serious as cerebral haemorrhages, stroke and cancer.
it will be possible to measure oxygen using the optical microscopes already present in most hospitals. Thomas Just Sørensen is Associate professor at the Department of chemistry, Nanoscience Centre, University of Copenhagen.
I am almost certain that we will see the first medical doctors using our method for measuring oxygen in cells,
"The detector and light source was the same as on light microscopes found at any hospital, but my colleague Tom Vosch has optimized the microscope to the point where everything is almost beyond the possible.
compared to approximately 16,000 kidney transplants, according to the National Kidney Foundation, and 2, 100 heart transplants, according to the U s. Department of health and human services'Organ Transplantation Network.
Out of the 48,000 corneal transplants done, 10 percent of them end up in rejection, largely due to poor medication compliance.
This costs the health care system and puts undue strain on clinicians, patients and their families. Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers may have discovered a way to prevent rejection by using biodegradable nanoparticles that release needed medication into the eye after surgery.
This discovery could solve the decades-old issue of medicine compliance and help patients achieve corneal transplant success. Medicine compliance is a major challenge in patient care,
says Walter Stark, M d.,chief of the Division of Cornea, Cataract and External Eye diseases at Johns Hopkins. About 60 to 80 percent of patients dont take medicine the way they are supposed to.
In an animal study being published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of Controlled Release("Corticosteroid-loaded biodegradable nanoparticles for prevention of corneal allograft rejection in rats),
"researchers looked into ways to alleviate the strain of adhering to a post-surgery treatment regimen that is sometimes hard to manage.
Rats that underwent a corneal graft surgery were divided randomly into four groups and were given various treatments.
One group was injected weekly for nine weeks with a safe, biodegradable nanoparticle loaded with corticosteroids for timed release of medicine.
The other three groups received weekly injections of saline, placebo nanoparticles and free dexamethasone sodium phosphate aqueous solution after surgery, respectively.
Treatments were given until the graft was deemed clinically as failed or until the nine-week test period concluded.
and did not leak within one week of the surgery. The concentration of the treatment also remained stronger than in the other three treatment groups Additionally,
Two weeks after surgery, rats that received the placebo nanoparticle and saline injections had severe swelling, opaque corneas and unwanted growth of new blood vessels, all indicating graft failure.
After four weeks, rats that received free dexamethasone sodium phosphate aqueous solution all had graft failure as well.
The only group that showed successful corneal transplant was the group of rats that received the corticosteroid-loaded nanoparticle injections.
and a lot of testing and time goes into ensuring the safe use of a graft for cornea transplant,
. a research associate at the Center for Nanomedicine at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
while making medicine adherence much easier on patients and their families The nanoparticle loaded with medication could eliminate the need for a patient to remember to take their medicine often multiple doses per hour after a surgery,
and used in other conditions, such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and corneal ulcers, among others. The research team intends to continue the collaboration between engineering
and medicine to look further into better ways to treat eye diseases s
#Flexible sensors turn skin into a touch-sensitive interaction space for mobile devices (w/video) If a mobile phone rings during a meeting,
as they are attached to the skin with a biocompatible, medical-grade adhesive. Users can therefore decide where they want to position the sensor patch
which designs and builds organisms able to make useful products such as medicines, energy, food, materials and chemicals.
Whether it's watching immune cells attack a tumour or an infection, or watching an organ develop embryonically,
function, or react to damage or stress, all of these things you could observe at an organ level,
creating an asymmetrical stress that makes the membranes fold. Argonne researchers are able to fold gold nanoparticle membranes in a specific direction using an electron beam
which is the basis for controlling electrons in computers, phones, medical equipment and other electronics.
#Artificial blood vessels become resistant to thrombosis Scientists from ITMO University developed artificial blood vessels that are not susceptible to blood clot formation.
The results of the study were published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry("Synthesis of Thrombolytic Solel Coatings:
"Surgery, associated with cardiovascular diseases, such as ischemia, often require the implantation of vascular grafts-artificial blood vessels,
which results in compulsory and lifelong intake of anticoagulants among patients and sometimes may even require an additional surgical intervention.
they actively release medicine into the blood. The lifetime of such grafts is determined often by the amount of drug stored within the graft,
but to any kind of implants. You just need to take the right kind of drug. For example, after the implantation of an artificial ureter, urease crystals often start to grow inside
and doctors do not know how to deal with this problem. It is possible to apply a similar drug-containing coating that dissolves urease.
The same approach may be used for kidney or liver surgery, but these are plans for the future,
#Nanotechnology developed to help treat heart attack and stroke Australian researchers funded by the National Heart Foundation are a step closer to a safer
and more effective way to treat heart attack and stroke via nanotechnology. The research jointly lead by Professor Christoph Hagemeyer, Head of the Vascular Biotechnology Laboratory at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and Professor Frank Caruso,
an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at the University of Melbourne, was published today in Advanced Materials("Multifunctional Thrombin-Activatable Polymer Capsules for Specific Targeting to Activated Platelets").
The drug-loaded nanocapsule is coated with an antibody that specifically targets activated platelets, the cells that form blood clots,
Professor Frank Caruso from the Melbourne School of engineering said the targeted drug with its novel delivery method can potentially offer a safer alternative with fewer side effects for people suffering a heart attack
or stroke. p to 55,000 Australians experience a heart attack or suffer a stroke every year. bout half of the people who need a clot-busting drug can use the current treatments
because the risk of serious bleeding is too high, he said i
#Molecular tinkering doubles cancer drug's efficacy The drug paclitaxel has been used for decades to fight breast, ovarian, lung and other cancers.
But its effectiveness has been limited by its small molecular size and insolubility in water--properties that allow the body to clear the drug too quickly,
reducing its accumulation in tumors. Many molecular packaging systems have been developed to deliver the drug while counteracting these effects, with a protein-bound version of the drug called Abraxane currently the leading therapy.
But Ashutosh Chilkoti, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical engineering at Duke university thought his team could do better.
the Duke team doubled tumor exposure to the drug compared to Abraxane while simultaneously reducing its effects on healthy tissue.
This kept mice with tumors alive significantly longer and, in some cases, completely eradicated the tumors.
The results were published online in Nature Communications on August 4, 2015("A paclitaxel-loaded recombinant polypeptide nanoparticle outperforms Abraxane in multiple murine cancer models".
and accumulate in tumors where they take advantage of a tumor's acidic environment.""The chemical bonds holding the polypeptide cage together are stable in blood,
but dissolve in a tumor's lower ph levels,"said Jayanta Bhattacharyya, senior researcher in Chilkoti's lab and first author on the paper."
"This delivers the drug directly to the tumor and helps prevent it from randomly absorbing into healthy tissue, reducing side effects."
A second group of mice had human prostate tumors growing under their skin. Similarly, while they did not survive past 60 days
with some experiencing a complete cure. As the mortality rates suggest the Duke technology showed a higher concentration of paclitaxel in the tumors with more staying power than Abraxane,
while simultaneously showing much lower levels throughout the rest of the mice's bodies.""Clearly in the animal model there is a night and day difference,
"said Neil Spector, an oncologist at Duke Medicine familiar with the work.""But it's not just the increase in clinical efficacy
it's also the improvement in targeting and reduction in toxicity, which is just icing on the cake.
it could be a game-changer for cancer therapy.""In future work, Chilkoti and coworkers will begin applying the packaging system to other cancer drugs with the goal of developing a"one size fits all"technology to improve the effectiveness of many other cancer drugs s
and structural biology at UC Berkeley and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is a leading authority on the structure and dynamics of microtubules.
With Rodriguez new approach, existing robots in manufacturing, medicine, disaster response, and other gripper-based applications may interact with the environment,
A surgical robot may push a scalpel against an operating table to adjust its grip, while a forensic robot in the field may angle a piece of evidence against a nearby rock to better examine it. xploiting the environment is,
or surgery, or field operations, or even space exploration whenever you have a gripper that is not dexterous like a human hand,
and industrial R&d in a wide spectrum of applications, from transport to medicine. The Laser Applications Centre of AIMEN is devoted to applied research in the field of laser materials processing,
However, one challenge is reducing the tissue/neuron damage associated with needle penetration, particularly for chronic insert experiment and future medical applications.
In addition, as an actual needle application, we demonstrated fluorescenctce particle depth injection into the brain in vivo,
#Engineering a permanent solution to genetic diseases (Nanowerk News) In his mind, Basil Hubbard can already picture a new world of therapeutic treatments for millions of patients just over the horizon.
Its a future in which diseases like muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and many others are treated permanently through the science of genome engineering.
There is a trend in the scientific community to develop therapeutics in a more rational fashion,
Were moving towards a very logical type of treatment for genetic diseases, where we can actually say,
Your disease is caused by a mutation in gene X, and were going to correct this mutation to treat it.
In theory, genome engineering will eventually allow us to permanently cure genetic diseases by editing the specific faulty gene (s). Revolutionizing health care Genome engineering involves the targeted
and may one day revolutionize medical care. One of the obstacles still to be addressed in the field before it can see widespread use in humans is how to ensure the proteins only affect the specific target genes in need of repair.
but more improvements are needed to ensure off-target genes arent modifieda result that could potentially cause serious health problems itself.
Examples include diseases such as hemophilia sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. While the field is still in its relative infancy,
Hubbard says human clinical trials involving sequence-specific DNA-editing agents are already underway. If successful, he expects the first clinical applications could be seen in the next decade.
gene editing could possibly provide a permanent cure for a lot of different diseases, says Hubbard. We still have to overcome many hurdles but
I think this technology definitely has the potential to be transformative in medicine e
#Reflexes for robots (w/video)( Nanowerk News) Deep in the basement of MITS Building 3, a two-legged robot named HERMES is wreaking controlled havoc:
such as applying anticancer medications to melanomas or applying growth factors and antibiotics for wound healing, says Jin Di,
Now, Slater and a team of researchers from Duke university, Baylor College of Medicine and Rice university have developed an image-based,
which are highly toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms, in water. Lead researcher Dr Zo Waller, from UEA's school of Pharmacy, said:"
which may someday extend the life of medical implants, fiber-optic cables and other hard to repair in place objects, according to an international team of researchers."
"Maybe someday we could apply this approach to healing of wounds or other applications, "he said."
When the material did fracture, the researchers found it far more likely for this to happen at the eight-member rings,
such as ejector pins for iphones, watch springs for expensive hand-wound watches, trial medical implants,
#3d bone marrow made from silk biomaterials successfully generates platelets (Nanowerk News) Researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging
Failure to produce new bone marrow can be caused by disease, trauma, or some cancer treatments, and can lead to a significantly higher risk of infections,
and the need for blood transfusions. Understanding and reproducing key features of bone marrow formationnd hence, the creation of blood cells and platelets in tissue culture for storage and later useould help in treatment of a variety of medical problems.
The researchers worked to mimic the complex environment where megakaryocytes develop and mature into platelets.
This environment includes endothelial cells (the cells lining the inside of blood vessels) and extracellular matrix (ECM) components,
which provide structural support and signaling to surrounding cells. David Kaplan, Ph d.,professor and Director of the NIH P41 Resource Center on Tissue Engineering, Alessandra Balduini, M d,
including recalcitrant ulcers and burns. The key feature is that the platelets are functional, thus, the system can be used for fundamental and applied studies of the bone marrow. his is an elegant example of how to deconstruct a complex process into its basic elements,
Taking this incremental approachdding to the structure one step at a time, this group is making great strides on the path to creating therapeutic quantities of platelets on demand. t
If youe a doctor (examining) a patient you have to know the properties of (your instruments)
#3d printed guide helps regrow complex nerves after injury A team of researchers has developed a first-of-its-kind,
3d printed guide that helps regrow both the sensory and motor functions of complex nerves after injury.
The groundbreaking research has the potential to help more than 200,000 people annually who experience nerve injuries or disease.
Because of this complexity, regrowth of nerves after injury or disease is very rare according to the Mayo Clinic.
Nerve damage is often permanent. Advanced 3d printing methods may now be the solution. This is a 3-D printed nerve regeneration pathway implanted in a rat helped to improve walking in 10 to 12 weeks after implantation.
"This represents an important proof of concept of the 3d printing of custom nerve guides for the regeneration of complex nerve injuries,
and printer right at the hospital to create custom nerve guides right on site to restore nerve function."
or cadavers that hospitals could use to create closely matched 3d printed guides for patients s
The researchers anticipate a wide range of applications, for example in portable electronics and in the medical world l
biotechnology and medical treatments. The study appears September 21 in Nature Materials("Sequence Heuristics To Encode Phase Behaviour In Intrinsically Disordered Protein Polymers"."
""The very simple design rules that we have discovered provide a powerful engineering tool for many biomedical
however, drugs could be encapsulated in protein cages that accumulate inside of a tumor and dissolve once heated.
they could break down into additional therapeutic agents. We can now design two things into one."
#Protein-based sensor could detect viral infection or kill cancer cells MIT biological engineers have developed a modular system of proteins that can detect a particular DNA sequence in a cell
says James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT Department of Biological engineering and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science (IMES).
To achieve this, the researchers could program the system to produce proteins that alert immune cells to fight the infection,
a professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at The swiss Federal Institute of technology in Zurich, described this experiment as an legant proof of conceptthat could lead to greatly improved treatments for viral infection. entinel designer cells engineered with the DNA sense
This would represent a quantum leap in antiviral therapy, says Fussenegger, who was involved not in the study.
While treating diseases using this system is likely many years away, it could be used much sooner as a research tool,
. who is the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical school and Boston Children's Hospital as well as Professor of Bioengineering AT SEAS."
This is a crucial step in creating a new generation of foldable electronics-think a flat-screen television that can be rolled up for easy portability-and implantable medical devices.
indicating it is a good material for implantable medical devices. Fatigue is a common problem for researchers trying to develop a flexible, transparent conductor,
That means the materials aren't durable enough for consumer electronics or biomedical devices.""Metallic materials often exhibit high cycle fatigue,
and fatigue has been a deadly disease for metals, "the researchers wrote.""We weaken the constraint of the substrate by making the interface between the Au (gold) nanomesh and PDMS slippery,
and cancer drugs Longing to find a cure for cancer, HIV and other yet incurable diseases,
each requiring preclinical and clinical testing with live subjects. How many chemical agents more to try? Moving at such rate, will we find the cure during our lifetime?
This approach will eventually provide more effective preclinical selection of drug candidates for the subsequent long-term and expensive clinical trial.
and vaccines against many dangerous diseases including HIV, hepatitis and cancer. The research, led by Yury Stebunov,
a scientist at the MIPT, was published in the ACS Applied materials & Interfaces("Highly sensitive and Selective Sensor Chips with Graphene oxide Linking Layer").
Owing to the above-mentioned merits, SPR biosensing is an outstanding platform to boost technological progress in the areas of medicine and biotechnology.
Widespread introduction of this method into preclinical trials will completely change the pharmaceutical industry. With SPR sensors we just need to estimate the interaction between the drug and targets on the sensing surface,
"Our invention will help in drug development against viral and cancer diseases. We are expecting that pharmaceutical industry will express a strong demand for our technology,
However, the developed chip should go through a clinical trial for medical applications s
#Pioneering research develops new way to capture light-for the computers of tomorrow The key breakthrough will allow large quantities of data to be stored directly on an integrated optical chip,
Biomedical engineers are interested in recreating these developmental gradients in adults to aid the growth of new tissue in areas that have sustained damage.
IBIB goal is to help develop enabling technologies that could have big impacts on important medical problems,
noninvasive 3d biomedical imaging photonic chips aerospace photonics micromachines laser tweezing the process of using lasers to trap tiny particles.
and maintain excellent focusing properties under high stress, lead author of the research, Phd candidate Xiaorui Zheng said. hey have the potential to revolutionise the next-generation integrated optical systems by making miniaturised and fully flexible photonics devices.
"may aid efforts to build point-of-care devices for quick medical diagnosis of various diseases ranging from cancer, allergies, autoimmune diseases, sexually transmitted diseases (STDS),
when atoms are brought too close together-to detect a wide array of protein markers that are linked to various diseases.
and the results sent back to the doctor's office. If we can move testing to the point of care,
which would enhance the effectiveness of medical interventions.""The key breakthrough underlying this new technology came by chance."
explains that this novel signaling mechanism produces sufficient change in current to be measured using inexpensive electronics similar to those in the home glucose test meter used by diabetics to check their blood sugar.
allowing us to build inexpensive devices that could detect dozens of disease markers in less than five minutes in the doctor's office
including pathogen detection in food or water and therapeutic drug monitoring at home, a feature which could drastically improve the efficient of various class of drugs and treatments a
#Quantum dots light up under strain Semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, are sized tiny, nanometer particles with the ability to absorb light
this novel device is very suitable for applications such as soft robotics, wearable consumer electronics, smart medical prosthetic devices,
which are utilised already increasingly for monitoring critical parameters in biomedical applications, especially for those that may come in contact with human skin
With the rapid advancement of healthcare and biomedical technologies as well as consumer electronics we are optimistic about new possibilities to commercialise our invention,
and reduce side effects of allergy shots Whether triggered by cats, bees, pollen or mites, allergies are on the rise.
And the bad news doesn stop there. The only current therapy that treats their causes is allergen-specific immunotherapy or allergy shots
which can cause severe side effects. Now, researchers report in Biomacromolecules("Biodegradable ph-Sensitive Poly (ethylene glycol) Nanocarriers for Allergen Encapsulation and Controlled Release")the development of a potentially better allergy shot that uses nanocarriers to address these unwanted issues.
For many people, allergies are a seasonal annoyance. But for others exposure to a particular allergen can cause adverse reactions such as itching, breathing problems or even death.
Allergy shots can reduce sensitivity by slowly ramping up exposure to the offending substance. But because these shots expose the body to the very thing people are allergic to,
the treatment itself can sometimes trigger reactions. In order to develop a safer, more direct, cause-based therapy,
researchers have developed nanoparticles that envelop an allergen and deliver it to specific cells. But these carriers degrade too slowly,
hampering the effectiveness of the treatment. Holger Frey and colleagues set out to overcome these limitations.
The researchers say this approach also could be used for vaccines or immunotherapies for other conditions such as cancer or AIDS o
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