http://www.physorg.com/nanotech-news/bio-medicine/ en-us PhysOrg Team PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on nanobiology, nano medicine, nanotechnology, nanoscience, and nanotech. (PhysOrg.com) -- By producing some of the highest resolution images of peptides attaching to mineral surfaces, scientists have a deeper understanding how biomolecules manipulate the growth crystals. This research may lead to a new treatment for kidney stones using biomolecules. http://www.physorg.com/news178212559.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-23T15:29:56-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the great promises of nanotechnologies lies in its ability to create drug-containing nanoparticles decorated with targeting molecules that recognize and bind to cancer cells, providing drug delivery only at the site of the targeted cells. Such site-specific drug delivery would not only boost the cancer-killing activity of a drug payload but also reduce potential side effects by greatly restricting or even eliminating the amount of drug reaching healthy tissue. http://www.physorg.com/news177922936.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-20T07:40:05-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a polymer-coated gold nanocage that not only opens in response to light to release a small amount of a drug payload, but then closes when the light is turned off, leaving this nanodevice ready to deliver another dose of drug on command. Releasing carefully titrated amounts of a drug only near the tissue that is the drug's intended target, this delivery system has the potential to maximize a drug's beneficial effects while minimizing its side effects. http://www.physorg.com/news177875527.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-19T18:40:01-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Northwestern University researchers, using an extremely sensitive nanotechnology-based tool known as the biobarcode system, has detected previously undetectable levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy. This new assay, just one of many being developed by investigators at the Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (Northwestern CCNE), is 300 times more sensitive than commercially available PSA tests. http://www.physorg.com/news177775224.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-18T14:50:01-07:00 If you're watching the complex processes in a living cell, it is easy to miss something important -especially if you are watching changes that take a long time to unfold and require high-spatial-resolution imaging. But new research makes it possible to scrutinize activities that occur over hours or even days inside cells, potentially solving many of the mysteries associated with molecular-scale events occurring in these tiny living things. http://www.physorg.com/news177763702.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-18T11:00:03-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- 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. The sensor is up to 1,000 times more sensitive than any technology now in clinical use, is accurate regardless of which bodily fluid is being analyzed, and can detect biomarker proteins over a range of concentrations three times broader than any existing method, the researchers say. http://www.physorg.com/news177705280.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-17T18:38:02-07:00 Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. http://www.physorg.com/news177608158.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-16T15:36:25-07:00 The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) has developed findNano, an application for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch that lets users discover and determine whether consumer products are nanotechnology-enabled. Nanotechnology, the emerging technology of using materials by engineering them at an incredibly small scale, has applications ranging from consumer electronics to improved drug delivery systems. http://www.physorg.com/news177249579.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-12T12:30:03-07:00 Eric Shaqfeh studies blood at Stanford University, using computer models that simulate how the fluid and the cells it contains move around. On November 11 at a meeting of the scientific society AVS, he will present his latest unpublished findings from two studies. One shows how components in blood line up to prepare for healing; the other demonstrates the best shape to use for man-made nanoparticles that target cancers -- a surfboard. http://www.physorg.com/news176994180.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-09T13:03:40-07:00 (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 2009-11-08T13:22:11-07:00 (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 2009-11-06T08:58:32-07:00 (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 2009-11-06T04:03:35-07:00 (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 2009-11-05T16:20:02-07:00 (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 2009-11-04T07:12:55-07:00 (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 2009-11-03T09:52:55-07:00 Tiny, engineered nanomaterials can already be found in many consumer products, and have been hailed as having widespread future uses in areas ranging from medicine to industrial processes. However, little is known about what happens if these nanomaterials get into your body - where do they go? NC State researchers are working to answer that question under a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://www.physorg.com/news176387909.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-11-02T12:50:04-07:00 (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 2009-10-31T08:41:11-07:00 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 2009-10-30T10:15:06-07:00 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 2009-10-30T10:11:06-07:00 (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 2009-10-29T18:50:19-07:00 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 2009-10-28T12:51:49-07:00 Scientists in Switzerland are reporting results of one of the first studies on the release of silver nanoparticles from laundering those anti-odor, anti-bacterial socks now on the market. Their findings, scheduled for the Nov. 1 issue of ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, may suggest ways that manufacturers and consumers can minimize the release of these particles to the environment, where they could harm fish and other wildlife. http://www.physorg.com/news175948672.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-10-28T11:38:30-07:00 (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 2009-10-25T15:12:24-07:00 The biological safety of nanotechnology, in other words, how the body reacts to nanoparticles, is a hot topic. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have managed for the first time to carry out successful experiments involving the injection of so-called 'nanowires.' http://www.physorg.com/news175425344.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-10-22T10:30:01-07:00 With potential adverse health and environmental effects often in the news about nanotechnology, scientists in Arkansas are reporting that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) could have beneficial effects in agriculture. http://www.physorg.com/news175351519.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-10-21T13:46:52-07:00 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 2009-10-13T18:20:03-07:00 Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Nanotechnology, Canadian engineers suggest that research is needed into the risks associated with the growing field of nanotechnology manufacture so that appropriate protective equipment can be developed urgently. http://www.physorg.com/news174662290.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-10-13T14:30:05-07:00 Researchers at Oregon State University and other institutions have developed a new "plasmonic nanorod metamaterial" using extraordinarily tiny rods of gold that will have important applications in medical, biological and chemical sensors. http://www.physorg.com/news174651275.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-10-13T11:16:09-07:00 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 2009-10-13T09:56:41-07:00 Clemson bioengineer Frank Alexis is designing new ways to target drugs and reduce the chances for side effects. http://www.physorg.com/news174219683.html Nanotechnology - Bio & Medicine 2009-10-08T12:00:02-07:00