Category Archives: Nano Medicine

By Gamini WARUSHAMANA

Sri Lanka should popularise Nano Science at school level to gain economic control in nano technology- based industries. Nano Science should be re-introduced in school syllabuses said Dr. Prabath Hewageegana of the Department of Physics of the University of Kelaniya. Nano Science should be taught at school level so that students have a basic knowledge and the foundation in Nano Science should be strong to enable applications in nano technology.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has recognised nano technology-based applications and potential industries and institutions have been set up. Strengthening Nano Science education is crucial for sustainable development in the field. Sri Lanka can easily develop a sufficient pool of professionals and a work force in the next 10-15 years.

The Government's motivation and support is important and more research funds should be made available to universities and other research institutions, he said.

Dr.Hewageegana published a book in Sinhala last week to disseminate knowledge of Nano Science to teachers, students and those interested in this new subject.

The book is written in simple language to introduce key elements of the subject.

Nano Science was in the syllabus for the GCE Ordinary Level and Advanced Level but was later removed because there were no teachers who had the knowledge of the subject.

Another complaint from teachers was that there were no text books in Sinhala for reference.

My objective is to fulfill this requirement and if the authorities want to develop this sector they should re-introduce Nano Science in the school syllabus Dr.Hewageegana said. Senior Prof. of Physics, W.P. Siripala said that the importance of Nano Science is that it can be applied in every field.

Today it is applied in medicine,agriculture, and many other industries. This new science will generate the next revolution in science and therefore expansion of the knowledge in Nano Science was essential.

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Call to reintroduce Nano Science in schools

A local medical company, working in coordination with Penn State, has earned a $1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Keystone Nano, based in the Zetachron building at 1981 Pine Hall Road in Ferguson Township, has been working on a possible new drug delivery method, using a product called NanoJackets, to treat a variety of cancers.

The grant, supplied by the Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program, is intended to allow Keystone Nano to speed its potentially live-saving product to market, according to Thomas Hostetter, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.

A goal of this initiative is commercialization of innovations derived from prior research endeavors, he wrote in an email.

Six years ago, the patented NanoJacket technology was developed out of a partnership between two Penn State professors, one specializing in materials science and the other in medicine.

Dr. Mark Kester is director of the Penn State Center for Nanomedicine and Materials and the co-leader for experimental therapeutics at the Hershey Cancer

Institute, and professor James Adair is director of the Particulate Materials Center and a professor in the materials science and engineering department at Penn State.

Adair first looked into the science that scored the grant for Keystone Nano after a heart condition nearly killed him.

As a result of his condition and fortunate recovery from it, he said, I wonder if these nanomaterials can do something for health, Davidson said.

Adair reached out to Kester, a friend, and the two began collaborating on what eventually turned into Nano- Jackets.

The rest is here:
Nano firm gets $1 million grant to combat cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Regulators are proposing that food companies that want to use tiny engineered particles in their packaging may have to provide extra testing data to show the products are safe.

The Food and Drug Administration issued tentative guidelines Friday for food and cosmetic companies interested in using nanoparticles, which are measured in billionths of a meter. Nanoscale materials are generally less than 100 nanometers in diameter. A sheet of paper, in comparison, is 100,000 nanometers thick. A human hair is 80,000 nanometers thick.

The submicroscopic particles are increasingly showing up in FDA-regulated products like sunscreens, skin lotions and glare-reducing eyeglass coatings. Some scientists believe the technology will one day be used in medicine, but the FDA's announcement did not address that use.

The draft guidance suggests the FDA may require food companies to provide data establishing the safety of any packaging using nanotechnology.

Under longstanding regulations, companies aren't required to seek regulatory approval before launching products containing established ingredients and materials, such as caffeine, spices and various preservatives.

But FDA officials said Friday that foods and packaging containing nanoparticles may require more scrutiny.

"At this point, in terms of the science, we think it's likely the exemption does not apply and we would encourage folks to come in and talk to us," said Dennis Keefe, director of FDA's office of food additive safety.

Keefe said companies are studying whether nanoparticles can reduce the risk of bacterial contamination in certain foods. He said the agency is aware of just one food package currently on the market that uses nanoparticles but did not identify it. He said more are expected in coming years.

The FDA has previously stated its position that nanotechnology is not inherently unsafe; however, materials at the nano scale can pose different safety issues than do things that are far larger.

"This is an emerging, evolving technology and we're trying to get ahead of the curb to ensure the ingredients and substances are safe," Keefe said.

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FDA proposes rules for nanotechnology in food

By John Hutchinson

PUBLISHED: 19:31 EST, 30 March 2012 | UPDATED: 19:36 EST, 30 March 2012

Making complex, large 3D structures would normally take hours or even days to perfect.

But researchers from the Vienna University of Technology have speeded that up - considerably - and produced grain-of-sand sized objects such as bridges, cathedrals and Formula 1 cars.

It is thought that the world record for producing the nano-objects in the quickest time has been smashed.

London calling: Here is nano-scale model of London's Tower Bridge created by a newly developed 3D printing technique for nano structures

Great work: The attention detail for such a speeded-up process is incredible, with the making of the roofing clear

The attention to detail is exquisite - and the craftsmanship is even more impressive when you appreciate the scale of the endeavour.

In the design of London's Tower Bridge, for example, you can make out details in the roof-work of the tower, as well as the railings on the actual bridge.

The little Formula 1 car is just 0.028cm across - or to put it another way, less than a third of a millimetre.

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Scientists use world's fastest 3D printer to create amazingly detailed F1 car

Featured Article Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses;Biology / Biochemistry Article Date: 30 Mar 2012 - 12:00 PDT

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This week, at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in San Diego, Dr David H Gracias, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, gave an account of the progress he and his team are making in this area.

Gracias told the press:

"Cargo-carrying bacteria may be an answer to a major roadblock in using nano-medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat disease."

Nano-technology concerns itself with making ultra-tiny devices, small enough to fit a million or so on the head of a pin. In medicine the idea is to use them to transport particles of medication, sensors and other materials to precise locations in the human body.

But it is not easy to devise self-sustaining motors and propulsion mechanisms at this scale: so scientists are increasingly turning to nature, where organisms like bacteria are already of the right scale and capable of moving on their own.

As Gracias explained:

"Currently, it is hard to engineer microparticles or nanoparticles capable of self-propelled motion in well-defined trajectories under biologically relevant conditions."

Continued here:
"Backpacking" Bacteria Ferry Nano-Medicines

ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2012) To the ranks of horses, donkeys, camels and other animals that have served humanity as pack animals or beasts of burden, scientists are now enlisting bacteria to ferry nano-medicine cargos throughout the human body. They reported on progress in developing these "backpacking" bacteria -- so small that a million would fit on the head of a pin -- in San Diego on March 29 at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

"Cargo-carrying bacteria may be an answer to a major roadblock in using nano-medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat disease," David H. Gracias, Ph.D., leader of the research team said. Gracias explained that nanotechnology is the engineering of ultra-small machines and other devices. These devices generally lack practical self-sustaining motors to move particles of medication, sensors and other material to diseased parts of the body. So why not attach such cargo to bacteria, which have self-propulsion systems, and have them hike around the human body?

"Currently, it is hard to engineer microparticles or nanoparticles capable of self-propelled motion in well-defined trajectories under biologically relevant conditions," Gracias said. He is with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. "Bacteria can do this easily, and we have established that bacteria can carry cargo."

In addition, bacteria can respond to specific biochemical signals in ways that make it possible to steer them to desired parts of the body. Once there, bacteria can settle down, deposit their cargo and grow naturally. Bacteria already live all over the body, particularly in the large intestine, with bacterial cells outnumbering human cells 10-to-1. Despite their popular reputation as disease-causers, there are bacteria in the human body, especially in the intestinal tract, that are not harmful, and the backpackers fall into that category.

Gracias' bacteria don't really carry little nylon or canvas backpacks. Their "backpacks" are micro- or nano-sized molecules or devices that have useful optical, electrical, magnetic, electrical or medicinal properties. The cargos that the team tested also varied in size, shape and material. So far, the team has loaded beads, nanowires and lithographically fabricated nanostructures onto bacteria.

Other scientists are seeking to enlist bacteria in transporting nano-cargo. They already have established, for instance, that large numbers of bacteria -- so-called "bacterial carpets" -- can move tiny objects. Gracias' research focuses on attaching one piece of cargo to an individual bacterium, rather than many bacteria to much larger cargo. The bacteria, termed "biohybrid devices," can still move freely, even with the cargo stuck to them.

"This is very early-stage exploratory research to try and enable new functionalities for medicine at the micro- and nanoscale by leveraging traits from bacteria," explained Gracias. "Our next steps would be to test the feasibility of the backpacking bacteria for diagnosing and treating disease in laboratory experiments. If that proves possible, we would move on to tests in laboratory mice. This could take a few years to complete."

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'Backpacking' bacteria help ferry nano-medicines inside humans