Chemists at Rice University say that they have devised a technique to create tiny spheres comprising of dozens of molecules of the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel by using gold nanoparticles.The investigators claim that the tiny balls they have created are many times smaller than a living cell that literally bristles with the drug sold under the [...]
Researchers from the University of Delaware and Washington University in St. Louis have figured out how to train synthetic polymer molecules to behave–to literally “self-assemble” –and form into long, multicompartment cylinders 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, with potential uses in radiology, signal communication and the delivery of therapeutic drugs in the human body.The [...]
Scientist at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, is attempting to build artificial muscles using carbon nanofibres.Artificial muscles change length in response to a stimulus, thereby creating a smoother, more human-like motion than jerky electric motors or pneumatic devices. As such, they could be used to power robots, prosthetic limbs and artificial tissue [...]
Using nano-sized molecules to carry the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin to tumours improves the effectiveness of the drug, a new study by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing has found.The boffins used a new drug carrier that uses nano-sized molecules to deliver the drug doxorubicin to the tumours in a mouse model, and [...]
A new study has found that nanoparticles are not as effective in protecting frozen cells as the more traditional cryoprotective agents, or CPAs.The study investigated the complex effects of gold-based nanoparticles on cell freezing, to test whether they can be replaced by cryoprotective agents that are used to alleviate freezing injury.
The study was conducted by [...]