Nanotechnology - Medical

by David Terraso

One of the difficulties of fighting cancer is that drugs often hit other non-cancerous cells, causing patients to get sick. But what if researchers could sneak cancer-fighting particles into just the cancer cells? Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Ovarian Cancer Institute are working on doing just that. In the online journal BMC Cancer they detail a method that uses hydrogels - less than 100 nanometers in size - to sneak a particular type of small interfering RNA(siRNA) into cancer cells. Once in the cell the siRNA turns on the programmed cell death the body uses to kill mutated cells and help traditional chemotherapy do it’s job.

Read more: Attacking Cancer Cells with Hydrogel Nanoparticles

Nanotechnology - Medical

Single-walled nanotubes—cylinders of carbon about a nanometer in diameter—have been highly touted for potential applications such as ultrastrong fibers, electrical wires in molecular devices, or hydrogen storage components for fuel cells. Thanks to a new development by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and five partners, you can add one more application to the list: detection and destruction of an aggressive form of breast cancer.

Read more: Combining Nanotubes and Antibodies for Breast Cancer 'Search amd Destroy' Missions

Nanotechnology - Medical

by Anne Trafton

MIT team’s nanoparticles could become a safer alternative to gene therapy delivered by viruses.

About five years ago, Professor Janet Sawicki at the Lankenau Institute in Pennsylvania read an article about nanoparticles developed by MIT’s Daniel Anderson and Robert Langer for gene therapy, the insertion of genes into living cells for the treatment of disease. Sawicki was working on treating ovarian cancer by delivering — through viruses — the gene for the diphtheria toxin, which kills tumor cells.

Read more: Nanoparticles for Gene Therapy Improve

Nanotechnology - Medical

by Emil Venere

Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.

The synthetic "copolymer micelles" are drug-delivery spheres about 60 nanometers in diameter, or roughly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a red blood cell.

Read more: Finding Shows Nanomedicine Promising for Treating Spinal Cord Injuries

Nanotechnology - Medical

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Brain implants that can more clearly record signals from surrounding neurons in rats have been created at the University of Michigan. The findings could eventually lead to more effective treatment of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and paralysis.

Neural electrodes must work for time periods ranging from hours to years. When the electrodes are implanted, the brain first reacts to the acute injury with an inflammatory response. Then the brain settles into a wound-healing, or chronic, response.

Read more: A Step Toward Better Brain Implants Using Conducting Polymer Nanotubes

Nanotechnology - Medical

by David Orenstein

The first few times that scientists mapped out all the DNA in a human being in 2001, each effort cost hundreds of millions of dollars and involved more than 250 people. Even last year, when the lowest reported cost was $250,000, genome sequencing still required almost 200 people. In a paper published online Aug. 9 by Nature Biotechnology, a Stanford University professor reports sequencing his entire genome for less than $50,000 and with a team of just two other people. 

In other words, a task that used to cost as much as a Boeing 747 airplane and required a team of people that would fill half the plane, now costs as much as a mid-priced luxury sedan and the personnel would fill only half of that car.

Read more: Professor Sequences His Entire Genome at Low Cost, with Small Team