Taxol bristle ball: a wrench in the works for cancer

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Using gold nanoparticles Rice chemists have created tiny spheres that literally bristle with molecules of the anti-cancer drug Taxol. Credit: Eugene ZubarevRice University
Using gold nanoparticles, Rice chemists have created tiny spheres that literally bristle with molecules of the anti-cancer drug Taxol. Credit: Eugene Zubarev/Rice University

Rice University chemists have discovered a way to load dozens of molecules of the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel onto tiny gold spheres. The result is a tiny ball, many times smaller than a living cell that literally bristles with the drug.


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All News summaries for September 12, 2007

Milk may help bacteria survive against low levels of antibiotics

4 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Milk may help prevent potentially dangerous bacteria like Staphylococcus from being killed by antibiotics used to treat animals, scientists heard today at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this ...

Living sensor can warn of arsenic pollution

4 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Scientists studying arsenic pollution have discovered a living sensor that can spot contamination. They have also discovered new bacteria that can clean up arsenic spills even in previously untreatable cold areas, microbiologists ...

How plants fine tune their natural chemical defenses

Sep 07, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Even closely related plants produce their own natural chemical cocktails, each set uniquely adapted to the individual plant's specific habitat. Comparing anti-fungals produced by tobacco and henbane, researchers at the Salk ...

Understanding Algae As An Alternative Fuel Source: Will The Real Algae X Please Stand Up

Sep 07, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
The recent creation of AXI, LLC is an alliance between Allied Minds, Inc. a seed investment company and the University of Washington. The alliance came about because of Professor Rose Ann Cattolico PhD, an ...

How you spend affects how much you spend: Non-cash purchases found to be higher than cash buys

Sep 07, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
There is fresh evidence that people spend less when paying cash than using credit, cash-equivalent scrip or gift certificates. They also spend less when they have to estimate expenses in detail. These findings appear in the ...