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Cards, such as identification cards and credit cards, which are impossible to hack. With a system based on quantum physics this will soon be possible. Researchers from the UT research institute MESA+...

DELMIC develops and manufactures products which are focused on high performance, user friendly, integrated microscopy solutions. Users of the SPARC technology at Chalmers University of Technology in G...

In one of the most comprehensive laboratory studies of its kind, Rice University scientists traced the uptake and accumulation of quantum dot nanoparticles from water to plant roots, plant leaves and...

Installation is part of an expansion of the OHSU/FEI Living Lab for Cell Biology collaboration; a complete correlative microscopy solution will enable new approaches for cancer and related disease...

Nexeon - the company developing silicon anode technology for the next generation of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries - has strengthened its Board with the appointment of a non-executive director (NED) w...

Arrowhead Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ARWR), a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted RNAi therapeutics, today announced that it submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the...

UMass Amherst researchers invent fast, accurate new nanoparticle-based sensor system Traditional genomic, proteomic and other screening methods currently used to characterize drug mechanisms are time-consuming and require special equipment, but now researchers led by chemist Vincent Rotello at the University of Massachusetts Amherst offer a multi-channel sensor method using gold nanoparticles that can accurately profile various anti-cancer drugs and their mechanisms in minutes. As Rotello and his doctoral graduate student Le Ngoc, one of the lead authors, explain, to discover a new drug for any disease, researchers must screen billions of compounds, which can take months. One of the added keys to bringing a new drug to market, they add, is to identify how it works, its chemical mechanism. “Rapid determination of drug mechanism would greatly streamline the drug discovery process, opening the pipeline of new therapeutics,” Ngoc says. She adds, “Drugs with different mechanisms cause changes in the surface of cells that can be read out using the new sensor system. We found that each drug mechanism generated a unique pattern, and we used these cell surface differences to quickly profile different drug mechanisms.” Details of this work appear in the current issue of Nature Nanotechnology. To expedite drug screening, the research team, which in addition to the chemists includes a UMass Amherst cognitive scientist and a materials scientist from Imperial College, London, developed a new, signature-based approach using a gold nanoparticle sensor system and three differently labeled proteins by color: blue, green and red. Using an engineered nanoparticle and three fluorescent proteins provides “a three-channel sensor that can be trained to detect subtle changes in cell surface properties,” the authors note. Drug-induced cell surface changes trigger different sets of fluorescent proteins to turn on together, offering patterns that identify specific cell death mechanisms. The new nanosensor is generalizable to different cell types and does not require processing steps before analysis. So, it offers a simple, effective way to expedite research in drug discovery, toxicology and cell-based sensing, the researchers add. Some signature-based drug screening using traditional biomarkers exists today, but it requires multi-step cell processing and special equipment, limiting its usefulness the authors point out. With their three-channel, gold nanoparticle sensor platform, Rotello and colleagues solve those challenges and enhance accuracy. Further, they say, “the information-rich output allows the determination of a chemotherapeutic mechanism from a single measurement, providing answers far more quickly (in minutes) than current methods, using standard laboratory instrumentation.” This invention could have a substantial potential impact on the drug discovery pipeline, says Ngoc. “The sensor is not only able to profile mechanisms for individual drugs but also determine the mechanisms of drug mixtures, that is, drug ‘cocktails’ that are an emerging tool with many therapies,” she adds. Rotello emphasizes, “While we have decent knowledge of individual drugs, we still have a lot to learn about the mechanisms of combination therapies. In addition to drug screening, the simplicity and speed of this enabling technology holds the promise to greatly accelerate the search for effective cancer treatments, and provides a step forward in areas such as toxicology, where the safety of thousands of uncategorized chemicals needs to be assessed. The researchers point out that their new sensor system offers “a potential way forward for toxicology, providing a viable method to classify the tens of thousands of commercial chemicals for which no data are available."Source: UMass Amherst (http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/promising-new-method-found-rapidly)Image credit: Vincent Rotello, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Park Systems introduces fully automated atomic force microscope systems that mean users don’t need technical expertise.

Iranian researchers produced electrodes that increase sensitivity and detection limit of sensors and biosensors using graphene.

The LICARA guidelines are geared towards small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from all branches of industry, and help weigh up the pros and cons of nanomaterials and make decisions on their use....

Pixelligent Technologies, producer of PixClear™, the leading nanocrystal dispersions for demanding applications in the Solid State Lighting and Optical Coatings & Films markets, announced today that i...

Iranian researchers from Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences studied and produced a drug nanosystem at laboratorial scale to achieve edible insulin...

Large Scale Nanoshaping of Ultrasmooth 3D Crystalline Metallic Structures Huang Gao1,3,*, Yaowu Hu1,3,*, Yi Xuan2,3,*, Ji Li1,3, Yingling Yang1,3, Ramses V. Martinez4,5, Chunyu Li3,6, Jian Luo...

Scientists at Brunel University London have found a way of targeting hard-to-reach cancers and degenerative diseases using nanoparticles, but without causing the damaging side effects the treatment no...

"Equally Efficient Interlayer Exciton Relaxation and Improved Absorption in Epitaxial and Non-epitaxial MoS2/WS2 Heterostructures" Authors: Yifei Yu, Shi Hu, Lujun Huang, Yi Liu, Zhenghe Jin, Ki Wo...

Industrial Nanotech, Inc. (OTC-PINK INTK), an emerging global leader in nanotechnology based energy saving solutions, today announced a number of government and defense projects that will be utilizing...

Researchers at Rice University have created flexible, patterned sheets of multilayer graphene from a cheap polymer by burning it with a computer-controlled laser. The process works in air at room temp...

Touch can be a subtle sense, but it communicates quickly whether something in our hands is slipping, for example, so we can tighten our grip. For the first time, scientists report the development of a...

Plasmonic nanostructures made from nanopores and “bulls-eye” nanoantennas might be used to detect single molecules and biomolecules, such as proteins and DNA, and analyse their properties.

Iranian researchers from Bu-Ali Sina University studied the function of nanoparticles in separation of pollutants, including phosphor from agricultural soils.