Category Archives: Nano Medicine

Public release date: 10-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andreas Zumbuehl andreas.zumbuehl@unige.ch 41-223-796-719 Universit de Genve

In Switzerland, more than 20,000 people (37% of all deaths) die of cardiovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis each year. Treatment options are currently available to people who suffer from the disease but no drug can target solely the diseased areas, often leading to generalized side effects. Intravenous injection of a vasodilator (a substance that dilates blood vessels), such as nitroglycerin, dilates both the diseased vessels and the rest of our arteries. Blood pressure can thus drop, which would limit the desired increased blood flow generated by vasodilatation of diseased vessels and needed for example during a heart attack.

In order to increase the effectiveness of treatments against atherosclerosis and to reduce side effects, a team of researchers from UNIGE, HUG and the University of Basel have developed nanocontainers having the ability to release their vasodilator content exclusively to diseased areas.

Nanotechnology in medicine

Though no biomarker specific to atherosclerosis has been identified, there is a physical phenomenon inherent to stenosis (the narrowing of blood vessels) known as shear stress. This force results from fluctuations in blood flow induced by the narrowing of the artery and runs parallel to the flow of blood. It is by making use of this phenomenon that the team of researchers has developed a veritable time bomb, a nanocontainer which, under pressure from the shear stress in stenosed arteries, will release its vasodilator contents.

By rearranging the structure of certain molecules (phospholipids) in classic nanocontainers such as liposome, scientists were able to give them a lenticular shape as opposed to the normal spherical shape. In the form of a lens, the nanocontainer then moves through the healthy arteries without breaking. This new nanocontainer is perfectly stable, except when subjected to the shear stress of stenosed arteries. And that's exactly the intention of this technological advance. The vasodilator content is distributed only to the stenotic arteries, significantly increasing the efficacy of the treatment and reducing side effects. In brief, we exploited a previously unexplored aspect of an existing technology. This research offers new perspectives in the treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease, explains Andreas Zumbuehl from the Department of Organic Chemistry at UNIGE.

Nanomedicine is a discipline stemming from general nanoscience but which orients itself towards medical research. The interdisciplinary collaboration between chemistry, physics, basic science and clinical medicine in a highly technical environment could lead to a new era of research, states Till Saxer of the Cardiology and General Internal Medicine Departments at HUG.

The nano component is present in all disciplines, but the most interesting aspect of nanomedicine is its overview allowing the development of clinical products that integrate this global medical point of view from the earliest onset of research projects, states Bert Mller, Director of the Biomaterials Science Centre (BMC) at Basel.

When chemistry gets involved

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Researchers develop a 'time bomb' to fight cardiovascular disease

07-06-2012 10:44 Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology.Nanomedicine desires to deliver a set of research tools and clinically reformative devices in the near future. The Journal of Nanomedicine & Biotherapeutic Discovery provieds an open access gives the overview of basic, clinical and engineering research in the field of nano medicine and the related biotherapeutic discovery.

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OMICS Group :: Journal of Nanomedicine

Jugaad innovators don't plan - they improvise By demonstrating agility, jugaad innovators can deal with unanticipated challenges faster and seize unexpected opportunities-such as changing customer needs-more swiftly than their competitors Jugaad Innovation / Jun 04, 2012, 00:45 IST

Emerging markets are characterized by high volatility. Economic circumstances are constantly changing. Growth rates are often in double digits, and the competitive landscape is often shifting. New laws and regulations are constantly being put into place, and policy is constantly evolving. So jugaad innovators need to experiment as they go along and be willing to try multiple options, rather than adopting one approach at the start and sticking to it thereafter. Unlike their counterparts in Silicon Valley, jugaad innovators do not attempt to work everything out in advance or rely on a business plan to determine the mid- to long-term roadmap for their new ventures. Instead, they improvise their next course of action as circumstances change, and they do so from within a framework of deep knowledge and passion. Their approach is in fact more akin to a jazz band than to an orchestra: everything is improvised, fluid, and dynamic. As such, their strategies are organic and emergent rather than predetermined. Jugaad innovators flexible thinkingtheir ability to improviseserves them especially well when confronted with adversity.

Given their propensity for improvisation, jugaad innovators dont rely on forecasting tools like scenario planning, as many companies do, to assess future risks. They believe in Murphys Lawanything that can go wrong will go wrongso whats the point of anticipating every single obstacle that might appear down the road? Jugaad innovators dont have a Plan B, let alone a Plan C. Rather, when confronted with an unexpected hindrance, they rely on their innate ability to improvise an effective solution to overcome it, given the circumstances at that time.

In 2007, however, local farmers began protesting against the acquisition of land for the factory. The dispute rapidly escalated into a political issue and caught Tata Motors off guard. As the protests intensified through 2008, Ravi Kant, then managing director of Tata Motors (and later its non-executive vice chairman) made a bold decision. He set aside his firms prior manufacturing plans and swiftly shifted the production of the Nano to Sanand, in the investor-friendly state of Gujarat, on the other side of the country. He didnt hire a management consultant to advise him on the move; he just trusted his instinct that this was the right thing to do, given the circumstances. In just fourteen months (compared to the expected twenty-eight months for the Singur plant), Tata Motors built a new factory in Sanand, Gujarat. The new factory began production of Nanos in June 2010.

One year later, Ravi Kant and his team had to demonstrate the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances yet again: the Nanos werent selling as well as expected. Monthly sales had fallen well below the optimistic forecast of twenty thousand units. Rather than being disappointed by the Nanos lackluster performance, Tata Motors leadership used this early market feedback to improvise a plan to shore up sales. Ratan Tata originally envisioned a distributed supply chain model whereby Tata Motors would dispatch flat packs to local entrepreneurs across the country, who would do the final assembly of Nanos close to customers thus creating gainful employment in local communities. With flagging sales, however, this original vision had to be revised: Tata Motors executives went back to the drawing board and quickly revamped Nanos logistics network to a more straightforward one, which involved manufacture and assembly at one site in Gujarat, and distribution through a traditional dealer network throughout the country. But again Tata Motors hit a snag: rural customers such as farmers were not venturing into Tata Motors showrooms in small towns. Among other things, they felt intimidated by dealers dressed in suits and ties.

This setback led Tata Motors management to redesign their rural showrooms to make them more informal-for example by staffing them with casually attired salesmen who could pitch the Nano to Indian farmers over a cup of chai. Tata Motors also launched a nationwide TV campaign and began offering consumer financing at highly attractive rates to lure frugal Indian consumers. By constantly adapting and refining its business modeland implementing changes within weeks, not monthsTata Motors invigorated sales of the Nano, which, although still lower than expected, are gradually beginning to pick up. Indeed, it is very likely that the future success of the car will depend on more such quick adaptation and flexible thinking by the managers of Tata Motors.

Jugaad innovators experiment with multiple ways to reach a goal Unpredictability is the norm in emerging markets. Because of diversity and rapid change, it is hard to predict how consumers will respond to new products and services-and how new business strategies will perform in, say, rural markets. Jugaad innovators may have a single-minded vision of where they want to get to, but they must be willing to try different paths to get there. Specifically, they must be willing to keep experimenting in order to attain their goalsand they must be flexible enough to quickly switch from one path to another along the way.

Dr Mohan, for instance, experimented with a number of different ways to frugally yet effectively engage rural communities both as consumers (patients) and employees. When he first sent his expensive technicians from his city hospital to work in remote villages, he found that these techniciansalthough highly competentwould soon leave, wanting to return to city life. Learning this, he developed a training curriculum in his city hospital to impart to young men and women from villages the basic skills they need as healthcare workers. After about three months, these newly trained healthcare professionals would return to their rural homes, where they were more likely to want to remain. This in turn helped reduce costs and turnover in Dr Mohans model. Dr Mohan had a similar experience with his attempts to work with non-traditional partners to develop a cost-effective tele-medicine platform. Although he initially contemplated partnering with more typicaland expensivetechnology providers, Dr Mohan eventually linked up with ISRO, which provides his roaming tele-medicine van with a free satellite uplink to his clinic in the city of Chennai.

Jugaad innovators act with speed and agility In emerging markets, new threats and opportunities can emerge from out of the blue. This forces jugaad innovators to not only think but also act flexibly. By demonstrating agility, jugaad innovators can deal with unanticipated challenges faster and seize unexpected opportunitiessuch as changing customer needsmore swiftly than their competitors. Zhang Ruimin is one such jugaad innovator who thinks and acts quickly.

Zhang, is the CEO of Haier, a Chinese consumer goods company that is making appliance makers like GE and Whirlpool nervous. Under Zhangs leadership, Haier has, in the space of a decade, made huge inroads into North American and European markets by selling quality appliances at lower prices than those of Western suppliers like Whirlpool and GE. Armed with its value for money strategy, Haier is disrupting the consumer goods market not only in mainstream segments like air-conditioners and washing machines, but also in niche segments like wine coolers. For instance, Haier launched a $704 (Rs 35,200) wine cooler that is less than half the cost of industry leader La Sommelires product. Within two years of this launch, Haier has grown the market by a whopping 10,000 percent and now controls 60 percent of the US market by value. By leveraging its value for money strategy, Haier has also rapidly established a strong presence in the Indian home appliances market, where it commands 8 percent of market share. In coming years, Haier aims to grow its Indian market share to at least 10 percent and achieve Rs 4,500 crore in revenue and become one of the top five brands in India by 2014.

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Jugaad innovators don't plan - they improvise

ScienceDaily (June 1, 2012) Computer-designed proteins are under construction to fight the flu. Researchers are demonstrating that proteins found in nature, but that do not normally bind the flu, can be engineered to act as broad-spectrum antiviral agents against a variety of flu virus strains, including H1N1 pandemic influenza.

"One of these engineered proteins has a flu-fighting potency that rivals that of several human monoclonal antibodies," said Dr. David Baker, professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, in a report in Nature Biotechnology.

Baker's research team is making major inroads in optimizing the function of computer-designed influenza inhibitors. These proteins are constructed via computer modeling to fit exquisitely into a specific nano-sized target on flu viruses. By binding the target region like a key into a lock, they keep the virus from changing shape, a tactic that the virus uses to infect living cells. The research efforts, akin to docking a space station but on a molecular level, are made possible by computers that can describe the landscapes of forces involved on the submicroscopic scale.

Baker heads the new Institute for Protein Design Center at the University of Washington. Biochemists, computer scientists, engineers and medical specialists at the center are engineering novel proteins with new functions for specific purposes in medicine, environmental protection and other fields. Proteins underlie all normal activities and structures of living cells, and also regulate disease actions of pathogens like viruses. Abnormal protein formation and interactions are also implicated in many inherited and later-life chronic disorders.

Because influenza is a serious worldwide public health concern due to its genetic shifts and drifts that periodically become more virulent, the flu is one of the key interests of the Institutes for Protein Design and its collaborators in the United States and abroad. Researchers are trying to meet the urgent need for better therapeutics to protect against this very adaptable and extremely infective virus. Vaccines for new strains of influenza take months to develop, test and manufacture, and are not helpful for those already sick. The long response time for vaccine creation and distribution is unnerving when a more deadly strain suddenly emerges and spreads quickly. The speed of transmission is accelerated by the lack of widespread immunity in the general population to the latest form of the virus.

Flu trackers refer to strains by their H and N subtypes. H stands for hemagglutinins, which are the molecules on the flu virus that enable it to invade the cells of respiratory passages. The virus's hemagglutinin molecules attach to the surface of cells lining the respiratory tract. When the cell tries to engulf the virus, it makes the mistake of drawing it into a more acidic location. The drop in pH changes the shape of the viral hemagglutinin, thereby allowing the virus to fuse to the cell and open an entry for the virus' RNA to come in and start making fresh viruses. It is hypothesized that the Baker Lab protein inhibits this shape change by binding the hemagglutinin in a very specific orientation and thus keeps the virus from invading cells.

Baker and his team wanted to create antivirals that could react against a wide variety of H subtypes, as this versatility could lead to a comprehensive therapy for influenza. Specifically, viruses that have hemagglutinins of the H2 subtype are responsible for the deadly pandemic of 1957 and continued to circulate until 1968. People born after that date haven't been exposed to H2 viruses. The recent avian flu has a new version of H1 hemagglutinin. Data suggests that Baker's proteins bind to all types of the Group I Hemagglutinin, a group that includes not just H1 but the pandemic H2 and avian H5 strains.

Recognizing the importance of new flu therapies to national and international security, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency funded this work, along with the National Institutes of Health's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The researchers also used the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratories in Illinois, with support from the Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences.

The methods developed for the influenza inhibitor protein design, Baker said, could be "a powerful route to inhibitors or binders for any surface patch on any desired target of interest." For example, if a new disease pathogen arises, scientists could figure out how it interacts with human cells or other hosts on a molecular level. Scientists could then use protein interface design to generate a diversity of small proteins that they predict would block the pathogen's interaction surface.

Genes for large numbers of the most promising, computer-designed proteins could be tested using yeast cells. After further molecular chemistry studies to find the best binding among those proteins, those could be re-programmed in the lab to undergo mutations, and all the mutated forms could be stored in a "library" for an in-depth analysis of their amino acids, molecular architecture and energy bonds. Advanced technologies would allow the scientists to quickly thumb through the library to pick out those tiny proteins that clung to the pathogen surface target with pinpoint accuracy. The finalists would be selected from this pool for excelling at stopping the pathogen from attaching to, entering and infecting human or animal cells.

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Computer-designed proteins programmed to disarm variety of flu viruses

FORT PIERCE A new partnership at Indian River State College's Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship between its nanotechnology lab and NanoProfessor will take the college to the cutting edge of tomorrow's technology.

So said Kevin Cooper, director of advanced technology at the newly named NanoProfessor Advanced Materials Lab, which officially will be teaching about new-age nano technology studies starting in the fall.

What is nano technology? Nano technology is extremely small scale, said Dean Hart, chief commercial officer of NanoInk Inc. and the NanoProfessor and Nano Science education program in Skokie, Ill.

"Nano-scale is one billionth of a meter, so when you talk about nano technology applications, it's looking at normal biology, physics and material science it's how those sciences work on a very, very small scale," Hart said.

That's 80,000 times smaller than a human hair, according to an IRSC brochure.

IRSC is the first college in the Southeastern United States to offer students access to a fully nano-instrumentation equipped laboratory with an expert-driven curriculum, and student-teacher support materials.

Cooper said IRSC will be offering technician certificates starting in the spring of 2013 that will qualify graduates to seek four-year degrees in fields such as materials science, biology, physics and medicine at large universities.

Cooper said there already is ongoing undergraduate nano research at the Fort Pierce lab where student researchers have been working in partnership with industry clients; they are expecting to have their first publication in the fall.

The new nano program will not only introduce new degrees, but provide real-world research opportunities for students while fostering partnerships with universities and industry. It will provide lab space for scientists and those promoting economic growth in the nano fields.

What is nano research at IRSC looking at now?

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'Nano technology' [program can pay off big for IRSC students

June 1, 2012

Rewarding UC Daviss work at the forefront of humanities research and teaching, faculty and graduate students have received a round of more than $150,000 in grants for 2012-13 from the University of California. The grants will enrich studies and outreach in areas ranging from human rights to digital tools for education.

This recognition of the work of UC faculty and graduate students shows the range and vitality of the humanities at UC Davis, said Jessie Ann Owens, professor of musicology and dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies at UC Davis.

The UC Presidents Faculty Research Fellowship in the Humanities, which comes with a $40,000 grant, went to Colin Milburn, an associate professor of English, for Mondo Nano: Fun and Games in the World of Digital Matter. Milburns research focuses on the cultural relations between literature, science, and technology.

Another grant, for $34,000, went to Keith Watenpaugh, an associate professor and director of the UC Davis Human Rights Initiative, for the creation of a UC multi-campus research group on human rights and the humanities. The grant was awarded by the UC Humanities Network. The new research group will be led by Watenpaugh and Alison Brysk, a professor of Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. The project, titled Re-envisioning the Human: Human Rights and Humanitarianism across the Humanities and Social Sciences: The UC Human Rights Collaboration, will coordinate research on human rights among various UC campuses to enrich human rights research and study across disciplines, Watenpaugh said.

Christina Cogdell, associate professor of design at UC Davis, received renewed funding of $10,000 from the UC Humanities Network for a multicampus research group, the Consortium on California Architecture and Design. The research group is studying the influence of design on culture and the role of California as a site for innovative design. More information on the project is available at: http://www.californiadesign.ucdavis.edu

Social Media, Insecure Work and New Conceptions of Labor Solidarity will be the focus of another new UC Davis-led working group, funded by $25,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through the UC Humanities Network on Humanities and [the Changing Conceptions of Work. This grant was awarded to two associate professors at UC Davis: Chris Benner, from the Department of Community & Human Development and Jesse Drew, from the technocultural studies program. Among other efforts, their working group will host a public forum and blog on the changing nature of work.More information on this grant is available at http://www.humanitiesandwork.org

The following UC Davis projects also received awards from the UC Humanities Research Institute:

These projects, led by UC Davis faculty and graduate students, received awards through the UC California Studies Consortium, which aims to bring together scholars to look at comprehensive critical mappings and re-mappings of California and its cultures. (www.californiastudies.org)

For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget that exceeds $684 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

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UC Davis work in humanities receives $150,000 in UC-wide grants