http://www.physorg.com/nanotech-news/bio-medicine/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on nanobiology, nano medicine, nanotechnology, nanoscience, and nanotech. (PhysOrg.com) -- 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. http://www.physorg.com/news176908863.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:22:11 EST news176908863 (PhysOrg.com) -- About five years ago, Professor Janet Sawicki at the Lankenau Institute in Pennsylvania read an article about nanoparticles developed by MIT's 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. http://www.physorg.com/news176720244.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:58:32 EST news176720244 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whether it's magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) giving an army of 'therapeutically armed' white blood cells direction to invade a deadly tumour's territory, or the use of mNPs to target specific nerve channels and induce nerve-led behaviour (such as the life-dependant thumping of our hearts), mNPs have come a long way in the past decade. http://www.physorg.com/news176702544.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:03:35 EST news176702544 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have shown in the laboratory that metal nanoparticles damaged the DNA in cells on the other side of a cellular barrier. The research, by the University of Bristol, is published online this week in Nature Nanotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news176657350.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:20:02 EST news176657350 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cancer cells, like bacteria, can develop resistance to drug therapy, leading to relapse of disease. One approach showing promise in overcoming multidrug resistance in tumors is to combine two different anticancer agents in one nanoscale construct, providing a one-two punch that can prove lethal to such resistant cells. An example of this approach appears in the journal Small. http://www.physorg.com/news176541150.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:12:55 EST news176541150 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of investigators from the University of Toronto have used nanomaterials to develop an inexpensive microchip sensitive enough to quickly determine the type and severity of a patient's cancer so that the disease can be detected earlier for more effective treatment. Their work, reported in two papers published in the journals ACS Nano and Nature Nanotechnology, could herald an era when inexpensive yet sophisticated molecular diagnostics will become commonplace. http://www.physorg.com/news176464240.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:52:55 EST news176464240 (PhysOrg.com) -- Going smaller could bring better results, especially when it comes to cancer-fighting drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news176196750.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:41:11 EST news176196750 Colonoscopy represents one of the great weapons against cancer. In one step, a physician can find precancerous lesions in the colon and then cut them out, an on-the-spot intervention that prevents cancer from developing. Now, researchers at the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have developed another fiber optic technique that can detect lymph node metastases and destroy them on the spot, an action that could prevent the further spread of breast cancer, melanoma, or gastrointestinal cancer, all of which spread through the lymphatic system. http://www.physorg.com/news176116481.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:15:06 EST news176116481 Many medical conditions, such as cancer, diabetes and chronic pain, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, over a long period of time. A few delivery techniques have been developed, using an implanted heat source, an implanted electronic chip or other stimuli as an "on-off" switch to release the drugs into the body. But thus far, none of these methods can reliably do all that's needed: repeatedly turn dosing on and off, deliver consistent doses and adjust doses according to the patient's need. But now, a research team led by Daniel Kohane of Children's Hospital Boston has devised a solution that combines magnetism with nanotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news176116233.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:11:06 EST news176116233 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cisplatin is one of the most powerful and effective drugs for treating a wide variety of cancers, but serious side effects ultimately limit the drug's use and effectiveness. Now, however, researchers have developed a nanoparticulate formulation of cisplatin that may be able to eliminate or reduce platinum-associated toxicity while boosting cisplatin's tumor-killing activity. http://www.physorg.com/news176060990.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:50:19 EST news176060990 Scientists in California are reporting development of a new generation of the microcapsules used in carbon-free copy paper, in which capsules burst and release ink with pressure from a pen. The new microcapsules burst when exposed to light, releasing their contents in ways that could have wide-ranging commercial uses from home and personal care to medicine. Their study appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news175953070.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:51:49 EST news175953070 (PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory or other health problems. Now a collaborative study from North Carolina State University, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences shows that inhaling these nanotubes can affect the outer lining of the lung, though the effects of long-term exposure remain unclear. http://www.physorg.com/news175702180.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:12:24 EST news175702180 Imagine a particle so small it would take a million of them to stretch across the period at the end of this sentence. Imagine such particles could help catch cancer cells floating in your bloodstream before they could metastasize to the liver, bones, brain or other organs. Or replace the insulin-making cells of your pancreas to cure diabetes. Or, conversely, attack the linings of your lungs with the lethality of asbestos. http://www.physorg.com/news174670932.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:20:03 EST news174670932 Searching for biomarkers that can warn of diseases such as cancer while they are still in their earliest stage is likely to become far easier thanks to an innovative biosensor chip developed by Stanford University researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news174646518.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:56:41 EST news174646518 (PhysOrg.com) -- In an effort to build a nanoscale DNA sequencer, IBM scientists are drilling nano-sized holes in computer-like chips and passing DNA strands through them in order to read the information contained within their genetic code. http://www.physorg.com/news174036343.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:10:01 EST news174036343 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using computer simulations, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has identified some of the pathways through which single complementary strands of DNA interact and combine to form the double helix. http://www.physorg.com/news173979476.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:10:20 EST news173979476 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new portable device can detect bacteria and help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. This new tool takes from 15 minutes to 2 hours to diagnose a patient for infectious diseases and can be used in hospitals, doctor's office and at home. http://www.physorg.com/news173966720.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:06:05 EST news173966720 (PhysOrg.com) -- The increasing antibiotic resistance of bacteria is a serious problem of our time. Hospital germs in particular have developed strains against which practically every current antibiotic is ineffective. In the battle against resistant microbes, a team at the University of Münster (Germany) is now pursuing a new approach involving photodynamic therapy, which is a technique that is already being used in the treatment of certain forms of cancer and macular degeneration. http://www.physorg.com/news173954300.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:38:51 EST news173954300 Scientists working at Queen Mary, University of London, have developed micrometer-sized capsules to safely deliver drugs inside living cells. http://www.physorg.com/news173681739.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:56:26 EST news173681739 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using an RNA-powered nanomotor, University of Cincinnati (UC) biomedical engineering researchers have successfully developed an artificial pore able to transmit nanoscale material through a membrane. http://www.physorg.com/news173367207.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:33:52 EST news173367207 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Toronto researchers have used nanomaterials to develop a microchip sensitive enough to quickly determine the type and severity of a patient's cancer so that the disease can be detected earlier for more effective treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news173354979.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:11:09 EST news173354979 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Purdue University have created magnetically responsive gold nanostars that may offer a new approach to biomedical imaging. The nanostars gyrate when exposed to a rotating magnetic field and can scatter light to produce a pulsating or "twinkling" effect. This twinkling allows them to stand out more clearly from noisy backgrounds such as those found in biological tissue. Alexander Wei, Ph.D., and Kenneth Ritchie, Ph.D., M.Sc., led the team that created the new gyromagnetic imaging method. The work appears in a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news173110550.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:17:04 EST news173110550 (PhysOrg.com) -- Gene therapy holds promise in the treatment of cancer as well as a large number of other diseases. However, developing a scalable system for delivering genes to cells both efficiently and safely has been challenging. Now, two teams of researchers have developed versatile nanotechnology-enabled platforms that could get therapeutic genes safely and efficiently into cancer cells. http://www.physorg.com/news173102090.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:55:22 EST news173102090 (PhysOrg.com) -- Biomedical researchers at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock have developed a special contrast-imaging agent made of gold-coated carbon nanotubes that is capable of molecular mapping of lymphatic endothelial cells and detecting cancer metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes. The findings from this study, which was led by Jin-Woo Kim, Ph.D., M.S., University of Arkansas, and Vladimir P. Zharov, Ph.D., D.Sc., M.S., UAMS, were published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news172951791.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:10:01 EST news172951791 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy`s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago Medical Center`s Brain Tumor Center have developed a way to target brain cancer cells using inorganic titanium dioxide nanoparticles bonded to antibodies. Thousands of people die from malignant brain tumors every year, and the tumors are often resistant to conventional therapies. These composite nanoparticles eventually may provide an alternative form of therapy that targets only cancer cells and does not affect normal living tissue. http://www.physorg.com/news172951692.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:10:01 EST news172951692 (PhysOrg.com) -- Small pieces of nucleic acid known as short interfering RNAs, or siRNAs, can turn off the production of specific proteins, a property that makes them one of the more promising new classes of anticancer drugs in development. Indeed, at least two siRNA-based anticancer therapies, both delivered to tumors in nanoparticles, have begun human clinical trials. http://www.physorg.com/news172951531.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:06:33 EST news172951531 (PhysOrg.com) -- A research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology studying sugar-coated nanoparticles for use as a possible cancer therapy has uncovered a delicate balancing act that makes the particles more effective than conventional thinking says they should be. Just like individuals in a crowd respecting other people's personal space, the particles work because they get close together, but not too close. http://www.physorg.com/news172862738.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:00:02 EST news172862738 Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have uncovered what happens to biomimetic nanoparticles when they enter human cells. They found that the important proteins that make up the outer layer of these nanoparticles are degraded by an enzyme called cathepsin L. Scientists now have to take this phenomenon into account and overcome this process to ensure the exciting field of nanomedicine can progress. The research is published today in ACS Nano. http://www.physorg.com/news172838722.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:20:02 EST news172838722 An innovative drug-delivery system - nanoparticles encapsulating nitric oxide or prescription drugs - shows promise for topical treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED), according to a new study by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. http://www.physorg.com/news172562185.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:57:39 EST news172562185 (PhysOrg.com) -- Many medical conditions, such as chronic pain, cancer and diabetes, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, over a long period of time. A few delivery techniques have been developed, using an implanted heat source, an implanted electronic chip or other stimuli as an "on-off" switch to release the drugs into the body. But thus far, none of these methods can reliably do all that's needed: repeatedly turn dosing on and off, deliver consistent doses and adjust doses according to the patient's need. http://www.physorg.com/news172486374.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:40:01 EST news172486374