Category Archives: Nanotechnology

Northwestern University has announced a major new center focused on improving the quality of primary care to improve primary care services and systems throughout the world.

A gift from the Patrick G. 59, 09 H (97, 00 P) and Shirley W. Ryan 61, 19 H (97, 00 P) Family will endow the Ryan Family Center for Global Primary Care within Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicines Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health, whose mission is to improve health for a better world.

The primary care centers focus within that aim is to collaborate with partner institutions in international environments where critical health care is most needed. Northwestern will help identify opportunities for research and training, build capacity for more primary care patients and, ultimately, improve health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care. The gift is part of a transformational $480 million gift from the Ryan Family to the University that was announced in September 2021.

This wonderful gift from the Ryan Family enables Northwestern to expand our critically important work across the globe to improve lives and transform human health, said Dr. Eric G. Neilson, Lewis Landsberg Dean and Vice President for Medical Affairs at Feinberg. It is support like this that accelerates the pace of discovery for some of societys most important health issues. We are very grateful for their commitment to the science in medicine.

With the centers support, Feinberg faculty will conduct research and support scientific laboratories in these collaborating institutions, and Feinberg students and trainees will travel globally for pilot projects in primary care research.

With this visionary gift, the Ryans are putting Northwesterns faculty in a position to help reinvent primary care on a global scale, Northwestern President Michael H. Schill said. This represents one of our most urgent directives as an institution, one with as far-reaching effects as anything undertaken at a university like ours.

Dr. Robert J. Havey 80 MD, 83 GME, 84 GME (08, 13 P), deputy director of the Havey Institute for Global Health,said the goal of the Institute for Global Health is to find sustainable solutions to improve the health and health care of populations in under-resourced countries around the world. He noted that primary care is the foundation needed for health care to be affordable and effective.

The new Ryan Family Center for Global Primary Care will allow the Institute to find more efficient ways to improve and expand primary care systems to serve the billions of people around the world who currently have poor access to quality health care, said Havey, also a clinical professor ofmedicinein the division ofgeneral internal medicine and geriatrics, and a long-time general internist with Northwestern Medical Group. This is a humanitarian, economic and social stability crisis, occurring at a time of unprecedented global population growth. All of us at the Institute are grateful to the Ryan Family for recognizing and helping support this critical need.

As the largest donors in Northwesterns history, the Ryan Family has made broad and deep philanthropic investments across the institution, includingacademics. The Ryans have given in support of hundreds of different University programs. Among the most notable are:

Patrick G. Ryan is a 1959 Northwestern graduate. He received his undergraduate degree in business from what was then called the School of Business and now is named the Kellogg School of Management. He also received an honorary degree from the University in 2009 in appreciation for his 14 years of service as chairman of Northwesterns Board of Trustees. In 2013, he was inducted into Northwesterns Athletics Hall of Fame.

Shirley Welsh Ryan is a 1961 Northwestern graduate. She received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from what was then called the College of Arts and Sciences and is now named the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, Northwestern awarded Mrs. Ryan the honorary title of Doctor of Humane Letters.

Mr. Ryan is distinguished as one of Chicagos most successful entrepreneurs and prominent civic leaders. His first business venture while a student involved selling scrapbooks to fellow students, which paid for his Northwestern education. Mr. Ryan founded and served for 41 years as CEO of Aon Corporation, the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage. At the time of his retirement, Aon had nearly $8 billion in annual revenue with more than 500 offices in 120 countries.

In 2010, Mr. Ryan founded Ryan Specialty, a service provider of specialty products and solutions for insurance brokers, agents and carriers. The firm provides distribution, underwriting, product development, administration and risk management services by acting as a wholesale broker and a managing underwriter.

Mr. Ryan currently serves as chairman and CEO of Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc., which completed its initial public offering in July 2021. The firms shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RYAN. Mr. Ryan is distinct in having founded and built two major New York Stock Exchange traded insurance companies.

Mr. Ryan is a member of the Chicago Business Hall of Fame, and a member and past president of the Economic Club of Chicago. He also is a member of the International Insurance Hall of Fame and the Automotive Hall of Fame, a member and past chairman of Northwesterns Board of Trustees, a recipient of the esteemed Horatio Alger Award and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Shirley Welsh Ryan is founder of Pathways.org, which is used by 40 million parents and healthcare professionals annually through its video-based website and social media in every country except North Korea. Three hundred U.S. institutions of higher learning use Pathway.orgs free materials. Mrs. Ryans pioneering work to empower every infants fullest physical development has won numerous awards. Two U.S. presidents have appointed her to the National Council on Disability in Washington, D.C., which advises the U.S. Congress on disability policy.

In 2017, Pathways.org merged with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, acclaimed for 32 years as the number one U.S. rehabilitation hospital by U.S. News & World Report.

The Pathways.org Medical Round Table (P.M.R.T.), created in 1990, is the first Infant Milestone Chart of typical and atypical development to be endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (A.A.P.). All Pathways.org material is in accord with the leadership of P.M.R.T. and A.A.P.

Mrs. Ryan is a strong believer in the power of early infant detection, therapeutic intervention, universal accessibility, and the concept that all children can learn. She serves on the boards of University of Notre Dame, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Alain Locke Charter School and WTTW-PBS. She also has served on the boards of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and Ronald McDonald House Charities; has chaired the Chicago Community Trust; and founded the Lincoln Park Zoo Womens Board. For 46 years, Mrs. Ryan has led a Northwestern graduate-level course entitled Learning for Life.

Mrs. Ryan has been awarded honorary doctorates from Northwestern, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois at Chicago. She also has received the Chicago History Museum Award for Distinction in Civic Leadership.

In addition to earning her B.A. from Northwestern, Mrs. Ryan studied at the Sorbonne of the University of Paris and the Ecoledu Louvre in Paris.

In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Ryan, the Ryan Family includes Pat 97 JD, MBA and Lydia; Rob 00 JD, MBA and Jennifer; and Corbett.

This is one in a series of announcements being made this fall related to the Ryan Familys $480 million gift to Northwestern, which wasannounced in September 2021.

Originally posted here:
Northwestern announces new global primary care center to foster health care equity in the developing world - Northwestern Now

Sep 22, 2022(Nanowerk News) Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have designed a miniature antenna that can operate wirelessly inside of a living cell, opening up possibilities in medical diagnostics and treatment and other scientific processes because of the antennas potential for monitoring and even directing cellular activity in real-time.The most exciting aspect of this research is we are able to create cyborgs at a cellular scale, says Deblina Sarkar, assistant professor and AT&T Career Development Chair at the MIT Media Lab and head of the Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek Lab. We are able to fuse the versatility of information technology at the level of cells, the building blocks of biology.A paper describing the research was published in the journal Nature Communications ("Cell Rovera miniaturized magnetostrictive antenna for wireless operation inside living cells").An artist's rendition of the Cell Rover, an intracellular antenna for exploring and augmenting the inner world of the cell. (Image: Irakli Zurabishvili for Deblina Sarkar, with models by IronWeber and Lauri Purhonen)The technology, named Cell Rover by the researchers, represents the first demonstration of an antenna that can operate inside a cell and is compatible with 3D biological systems. Typical bioelectronic interfaces, Sarkar says, are millimeters or even centimeters in size, and are not only highly invasive but also fail to provide the resolution needed to interact with single cells wirelessly especially considering that changes to even one cell can affect a whole organism.The antenna developed by Sarkars team is much smaller than a cell. In fact, in the teams research with oocyte cells, the antenna represented less than .05 percent of the cell volume, putting it well below a size that would intrude upon and damage the cell.Finding a way to build an antenna of that size to work inside a cell was a key challenge.This is because conventional antennas need to be comparable in size to the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves they transmit and receive. Such wavelengths are very large they represent the velocity of light divided by the wave frequency. At the same time, increasing the frequency in order to reduce that ratio and the size of the antenna is counterproductive because high frequencies produce heat damaging to living tissue.The antenna developed by the Media Lab researchers converts electromagnetic waves into acoustic waves, whose wavelengths are five orders of magnitude smaller representing the velocity of sound divided by the wave frequency than those of the electromagnetic waves.This conversion from electromagnetic to acoustic waves is accomplished by fabricating the miniature antennas using material that is referred to as magnetostrictive. When a magnetic field is applied to the antenna, powering and activating it, magnetic domains within the magnetostrictive material align to the field, creating strain in the material, the way metal bits woven into a piece of cloth could react to a strong magnet, causing the cloth to contort.When an alternating magnetic field is applied to the antenna, the varying strain and stress (pressure) produced in the material is what creates the acoustic waves in the antenna, says Baju Joy, a student in Sarkar's lab and the lead author of this work. "We have also developed a novel strategy using a non-uniform magnetic field to introduce the rovers into the cells," Joy adds.Configured in this way, the antenna could be used to explore the fundamentals of biology as natural processes occur, Sarkar says. Instead of destroying cells to examine their cytoplasm as is typically done, the Cell Rover could monitor the development or division of a cell, detecting different chemicals and biomolecules such as enzymes, or physical changes such as in cell pressure all in real-time and in vivo.Materials such as polymers that undergo change in mass or stress in response to chemical or biomolecular changes already used in medical and other research could be integrated with the operation of the Cell Rover, according to the researchers. Such an integration could provide insights not afforded by the current observational techniques that involve destruction of the cell.With such capabilities, the Cell Rovers could be valuable in cancer and neurodegenerative disease research, for example. As Sarkar explains, the technology could be used to detect and monitor biochemical and electrical changes associated with the disease over its progression in individual cells. Applied in the field of drug discovery, the technology could illuminate the reactions of live cells to different drugs.Because of the sophistication and scale of nanoelectronic devices such as transistors and switches representing five decades of tremendous advancements in the field of information technology, Sarkar says the Cell Rover, with its mini antenna, could carry out functions ranging all the way to intracellular computing and information processing for autonomous exploration and modulation of the cell. The research demonstrated that multiple Cell Rovers can be engaged, even within a single cell, to communicate among themselves and outside of the cells.The Cell Rover is an innovative concept as it can embed sensing, communication and information technology inside a living cell, says Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of the MIT School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. This opens up unprecedented opportunities for extremely precise diagnostics, therapeutics, and drug discovery, as well as creating a new direction at intersection between biology and electronic devices.The researchers named their intracellular antenna technology Cell Rover to invoke, like that of a Mars rover, its mission to explore a new frontier.You can think of the Cell Rover, says Sarkar, as being on an expedition, exploring the inner world of the cell.

Excerpt from:
Cell Rover: Exploring and augmenting the inner world of the cell - Nanowerk

Sep 22, 2022(Nanowerk News) As the need to mitigate climate change accelerates, scientists are trying to find new ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. One process, called electrochemical reduction or electrolysis, uses electricity and a catalyst to convert carbon dioxide into organic products that can be used in other ways. Unlike conversion between water and hydrogen, chemical recycling of carbon dioxide can produce various useable products because carbon can develop vast varieties of organic structures.One way to achieve electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide uses very tiny pieces of copper. While bulk copper metal has known to convert carbon dioxide into various organic molecules, these small pieces of copper can further improve catalytic activity not only by the increase of its surface area but also by the unique electronic structure of copper emerged from nanosizing.The organic layer grown on cuprous oxide nanocube improved CO2 reduction selectivity of Cu species wrapped by it, and also maintained its cubic structure during catalysis. (Image: Shoko Kume, Hiroshima University)In a paper published in Chemical Communications ("Uniform wrapping of copper(i) oxide nanocubes by self-controlled copper-catalyzed azidealkyne cycloaddition toward selective carbon dioxide electrocatalysis"), researchers explain a process for improving the way the copper nanocubes convert carbon dioxide, by improving their selectivity. Selectivity refers to the ability of a catalyst to produce a desired product over unwanted byproducts.Recent developments in carbon dioxide reduction using copper electrocatalysts can convert the gas into hydrocarbons and alcohol, but the selectivity of various copper-related electrocatalysts developed so far is still elusive, because they tend to lose activity through structural reorganization during the catalysis, said Shoko Kume, associate professor at the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Hiroshima University in Japan.Researchers discovered that this problem can be solved by growing an organic layer on top of the nanocubes. First, a pair of monomers were added to the copper oxide nanocube. These monomers were tethered by the chemistry on copper oxide and an even organic layer grew on the surface of the cubes. This new organic layer helps improve carbon dioxide reduction selectivity, in part because carbon dioxide has poor solubility and the organic layer the researchers produced has hydrophobic properties, meaning it repels excessive water, from which unwanted hydrogen is produced.The wrapping improved carbon dioxide reduction of the copper beneath this organic layer by suppressing hydrogen evolution, and also maintained the cubic structure throughout the catalyst operation, said Kume.Another important factor for improving the quality of the organic layer was the temperature at the time of the growth, with the best results found at room temperature. Under the best conditions, the layer is flat with a thickness of several molecules. Even the thin layer readily permeates carbon dioxide and allows the wrapped copper to undergo electroreduction, protecting the metals and helping the cubes retain their shape.Currently, copper nanocubes are not widely adopted as a method for carbon dioxide reduction because they are unstable and do not have the level of selectivity needed to effectively recycle the carbon dioxide into other chemical products. The findings of this paper highlight a new method of creating an electrocatalyst using copper nanocubes that can solve some of these problems. Researchers also point out, looking ahead, that the method can be modified to control both the selectivity and improve how the catalysts work.Our current method can introduce a vast variety of organic structures within the layer, which can be involved in the carbon dioxide reduction process to control its selectivity and efficiency, said Kume. It can also be used to control the dynamic behavior of metal species during catalysis, which can develop catalysts with long life and a tolerance for impurities.

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Wrapping of nanosize copper cubes can help convert carbon dioxide into other chemicals - Nanowerk

TEHRAN A sum of 45 billion rials (around $160,000) has been paid to support 256 nanotechnology companies over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2021-March 2022).

Some 1,498 support services worth 45 billion rials (around $160,000) have been provided to 256 companies holding a nanoscale certificate.

These services were provided to companies active in the nanotechnology field in four general categories of "international market development", "business management", " production and development" and "domestic market development".

Nanotechnology improvement

One of the industries that have experienced good growth in Iran in recent years, provingthe countrys scientific development, is the nanotechnology industry, a subject area that has brought Iran to the worlds fourth place.

Currently, nanotech products are produced and marketed in more than 15 industrial fields based on domestic technologies and are being exported to 49 countries from five continents.

Over the past year (ended March 20), the total sale of Iranian nanoproducts has been equal to 115 trillion rials (nearly $425 million).

Services were provided for "international market development", "business management", " production and development" and "domestic market development".

The expansion of nanotechnology export programs in recent years and the establishment of bases for exporting nanoproducts to China, India, Indonesia, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq have provided the opportunity for the entry of Iranian nanotechnology goods, equipment, and services into global markets.

Some 42 percent of the products in this field are related to construction, more than 17 percent to the field of oil, gas, and petrochemicals, 13 percent to the field of automobiles, and over 10 percent to the field of optoelectronics.

Some 270 companies are active in the nanotechnology field and it is predicted that their revenue will reach up to 80 trillion rials (nearly $310 million), Vice President for Science and Technology, Sourena Sattari, announced.

Irans ranking in nanotechnology articles citation in 2019 has significantly improved compared to 2018, as it moved 26 levels higher, according to StatNanos statistics collected from the WoS database.

Based on a report Nanotechnology Publications report, Iran ranked 38 worldwide for the average number of times the nano-articles have been cited in the Journal Citation Reports in 2019, while in 2018, it was placed 64.

It also ranked 4th for the highest number of nano-article publications.

FB/MG

Excerpt from:
Over 250 nanotechnology companies supported in a year - Tehran Times

It's difficult to imagine ways in which we could make ordinary clothing high-tech. There's almost nothing as mundane as a t-shirt, or a pair of socks, but nanotechnology might be changing all of that. Treating existing fabric materials with nanoparticles can grant them a whole host of interesting characteristics.

A number of companies have begun work in this space, including Nanotex, Aspen Aerogel, BASF, and Nano-Horizons, according to a study published in the journal Nanomaterials. Precisely how each company constructs and applies their nanoparticle or nanofiber coatings to fabrics is difficult to ascertain, as they are often trade secrets, but the published research reveals some details about their function.

These coatings work by applying a layer of hydrophobic molecules to the fabric, making them capable of repelling liquids as simple as water, or as complex as coffee, wine, and mustard. Consequently, treated fabrics are seemingly impervious to getting wet or getting stained. The coatings themselves are nearly weightless, and don't otherwise fundamentally change the nature of the fabric. As a result, there's no noticeable change in the experience of the wearer.

In addition to preventing stains, research has shown resistance to bacteria through the production of reactive oxygen species. The upshot is that odor-causing bacteria doesn't accumulate in the material, and your clothes smell fresher, longer.

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The Surprising Ways Nanotechnology Is Changing The World Around Us - SlashGear

Nanotechnology, nicknamed "the manufacturing technology of the twenty-first century," allows us to manufacture a vast range of sophisticated molecular devices by manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. These nanomaterials possess the ideal properties of strength, ductility, reactivity, conductance, and capacity at the atomic, molecular, and supramolecular levels to create useable devices and systems in a length range of 1-100 nm. The materials' physical, chemical, and mechanical characteristics differ fundamentally and profoundly at the nanoscale from those of individual atoms, molecules, or bulk material, which enables the most efficient atom alignment in a very tiny space. Nanotechnology allows us to build various intricate nanostructured materials by manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular scale in terms of strength, ductility, reactivity, conductance, and capacity [1,2].

"Nanomedicine" is the science and technology used to diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases. It is also used for pain management and to safeguard and improve people's health through nanosized molecules, biotechnology, genetic engineering, complex mechanical systems, and nanorobots [3]. Nanoscale devices are a thousand times more microscopic than human cells, being comparable to biomolecules like enzymes and their respective receptors in size. Because of this property, nanosized devices can interact with receptors on the cell walls, as well as within the cells. By obtaining entry into different parts of the body, they can help pick up the disease, as well as allow delivery oftreatment to areas of the body that one can never imagine being accessible. Human physiology comprises multiple biological nano-machines. Biological processes that can lead to cancer also occur at the nanoscale. Nanotechnology offers scientists the opportunity to experiment on macromolecules in real time and at the earliest stage of disease, even when very few cells are affected. This helps in the early and accurate detection of cancer.

In a nutshell, the utility of the nanoscale materials for cancer is due to the qualities such as the ability to be functionalized and tailored to human biological systems (compatibility), the ability to offer therapy or act as a therapeutic agent, the ability to act as a diagnostic tool, the capability to penetrate various physiological barriers such as the blood-brain barrier, the capability to accumulate passively in the tumor, and the ability to aggressively target malignant cells.

Nanotechnology in cancer management has yielded various promising outcomes, including drug administration, gene therapy, monitoring and diagnostics, medication carriage, biomarker tracing, medicines, and histopathological imaging. Quantum dots (QDs) and gold nanoparticles are employed at the molecular level to diagnose cancer. Molecular diagnostic techniques based on these nanoparticles, such as biomarker discovery, can properly and quickly diagnose tumors. Nanotechnology therapeutics, such as nanoscale drug delivery, will ensure that malignant tissues are specifically targeted while reducing complications. Because of their biological nature, nanomaterials can cross cell walls with ease. Because of their active and passive targeting, nanomaterials have been used in cancer treatment for many years. This research looks at its applications in cancer diagnosis and therapy, emphasizing the technology's benefits and limitations [3-5]. The various uses of nanotechnology have been enumerated in the Table 1.

Early cancer detection is half the problem solved in the battle against cancer. X-ray, ultrasonography, CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and PET scan are the imaging techniques routinely used to diagnose cancer. Morphological changes in tissues or cells (histopathology or cytology) help in the final confirmation of cancer. These techniques detect cancer only after visible changes in tissues, by which time the cancer might have proliferated and caused metastasis. Another limitation of conventional imaging techniques is their failure to distinguish benign from malignant tumors. Also, cytology and histopathology cannot be employed as independent, sensitive tests to detect cancer at an early stage. With innovative molecular contrast media and materials, nanotechnology offers quicker and more accurate initial diagnosis, along with an ongoing assessment of cancer patient care [6].

Although nanoparticles are yet to be employed in actual cancer detection, they are currently being used in a range of medical screening tests. Gold nanoparticles are among the most commonly used in home test strips. A significant advantage of using nanoparticles for the detection of cancer is that they have a large surface area to volume ratio in comparison to their larger counterparts. This property ensures antibodies, aptamers, small molecules, fluorescent probes, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and other molecules cover the nanoparticle densely. This presents multiple binding ligands for cancer cells (multivalent effect of nanotools) and therefore increases the specificity and sensitivity of the bioassay [7,8]. Applications of nanotechnology in diagnosis are for the detection of extracellular biomarkers for cancer and for in vivo imaging. A good nanoprobe must have a long circulating time, specificity to the cancer tissue, and no toxicity to nearby tissue [9,10].

Detection of Biomarkers

Nanodevices have been studied to detect blood biomarkers and toxicity to healthy tissues nearby. These biomarkers include cancer-associated circulating tumor cells, associated proteins or cell surface proteins, carbohydrates or circulating tumor nucleic acids, and tumor-shed exosomes. Though it is well known that these biomarkers help to detect cancer at apreliminary stage, they also help to monitor the therapy and recurrence. They have limitations such as low concentrations in body fluids, variations in their levels and timings in different patients, and difficult prospective studies. These hurdles are overcome by nanotechnology, which offers high specificity and sensitivity. High sensitivity, specificity, and multiplexed measurements are all possible with nano-enabled sensors. To further illuminate a problem, next-generation gadgets combine capture with genetic analysis [11-15].

Imaging Using Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology uses nanoprobes that will accumulate selectively in tumor cells by passive or active targeting. The challenges faced are the interaction of nanoparticles with blood proteins, their clearance by the reticuloendothelial system, and targeting of tumors.Passive targeting suggests apreference for collecting the nanoparticles in the solid tumors due to extravasation from the blood vessels. This is made possible by the defective angiogenesis of the tumorwherein the new blood vessels do not have tight junctions in their endothelial cells and allow the leaking out of nanoparticles up to 150 nm in size, leading to a preferential accumulation of nanoparticles in the tumor tissue. This phenomenon is called enhanced permeability and retention (EPR).Active targeting involves the recognition of nanoparticles by the tumor cell surface receptors. This will enhance the sensitivity of in vivo tumor detection. For early detection of cancer, active targeting will give better results than passive targeting [16-18].

This can be classified as delivery of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and gene therapy, and delivery of chemotherapy is aimed at improving the pharmacokinetics and reducing drug toxicity by selective targeting and delivery to cancer tissues. This is primarily based on passive targeting, which employs the EPReffect described earlier [16]. Nanocarriers increase the half-life of the drugs. Immunotherapy is a promising new front in cancer treatment based on understanding the tumor-host interaction. Nanotechnology is being investigated to deliver immunostimulatory or immunomodulatory molecules. It can be used as an adjuvant to other therapies [19-21].

Role of Nanotechnology in Radiotherapy

Thistechnology involves targeted delivery of radioisotopes, targeted delivery of radiosensitizer, reduced side effects of radiotherapy by decreasing distribution to healthy tissues, and combining radiotherapy with chemotherapy to achieve synergism but avoid side effects, andadministering image-guided radiotherapy improves precision and accuracy while reducing exposure to surrounding normal tissues[22,23].

Gene Therapy Using Nanotechnology

There is a tremendous interest in the research in gene therapy for cancer, but the results are still falling short of clinical application. Despite a wide array of therapies aimed at gene modulation, such as gene silencing, anti-sense therapy, RNAinterference, and gene and genome editing, finding a way to deliver these effects is challenging. Nanoparticles are used as carriers for gene therapy, with advantages such as easy construction and functionalizing and low immunogenicity and toxicity. Gene-targeted delivery using nanoparticles has great future potential. Gene therapy is still in its infancy but is very promising [24].

Nanodelivery Systems

Quantum dots: Semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) have outstanding physical properties. Probes based on quantum dots have achieved promising cellular and in vivo molecular imaging developments. Increasing research is proving that technology based on quantum dots may become an encouraging approach in cancer research[4]. Biocompatible QDs were launched for mapping cancer cells in vitro in 1998. Scientists used these to create QD-based probes for cancer imaging that were conjugated with cancer-specific ligands, antibodies, or peptides. QD-immunohistochemistry (IHC) has more sensitivity and specificity than traditional immunohistochemistry (IHC) and can accomplish measurements of even low levels, offering considerably higher information for individualized management. Imaging utilizing quantum dots has emerged as a promising technology for early cancer detection[25,26].

Nanoshells and gold nanoparticles/gold nanoshells (AuNSs) are an excellent example of how combining nanoscience and biomedicine can solve a biological problem. They have an adjustable surface plasmon resonance, which can be set to the near-infrared to achieve optimal penetration of tissues. During laser irradiation, AuNSs' highly effective light-to-heat transition induces thermal destruction of the tumor without harming healthy tissues. AuNSs can even be used as a carrier for a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic substances[27].

Dendrimers: These are novel nanoarchitectures with distinguishing characteristics such as a spherical three-dimensional shape, a monodispersed uni-micellar nature, and a nanometric size range. The biocompatibility of dendrimers has been employed to deliver powerful medications such as doxorubicin. This nanostructure targets malignant cells by attaching ligands to their surfaces. Dendrimers have been intensively investigated for targeting and delivering cancer therapeutics and magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents. The gold coating on its surface significantly reduced their toxicity without significantly affecting their size. It also served as an anchor for attaching high-affinity targeting molecules to tumor cells [28].

Liposomal nanoparticles (Figure 1): These have a role in delivery to a specific target spot, reducing biodistribution toxicity because of the surface-modifiable lipid composition, and have a structure similar to cell membranes. Liposome-based theranostics (particles constructed for the simultaneous delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic moieties) have the advantage of targeting specific cancer cells.Liposomes are more stable in the bloodstream and increase the solubility of the drug. They also act as sustained release preparations and protect the drug from degradation and pH changes, thereby increasing the drug's circulating half-life. Liposomes help to overcome multidrug resistance. Drugs such as doxorubicin, daunorubicin, mitoxantrone, paclitaxel, cytarabine, and irinotecanare used with liposome delivery [29-31].

Polymeric micelles: Micelles are usually spherical particles with a diameter of 10-100 nm, which are self-structured and have a hydrophilic covering shell and a hydrophobic core, suspended in an aqueous medium. Hydrophobic medicines can be contained in the micelle's core. A variety of molecules having the ability to bind to receptors, such as aptamers, peptides, antibodies, polysaccharides, and folic acid, are used to cover the surface of the micelle in active tumor cell targeting. Enzymes, ultrasound, temperature changes, pH gradients, and oxidationare used as stimuli in micelle drug delivery systems. Various physical and chemical triggers are used as stimuli in micelle drug delivery systems. pH-sensitive polymer micelle is released by lowering pH. A co-delivery system transports genetics, as well as anticancer medicines. Although paclitaxel is a powerful microtubule growth inhibitor, it has poor solubility, which causes fast drug aggregation and capillary embolisms. Such medicines' solubility can beraised to 0.0015-2 mg/ml by encapsulating them in micelles. Polymeric micelles are now being tested for use in nanotherapy [32].

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs): Carbon from burned graphite is used to create hollow cylinders known as carbon nanotubes (CNTs). They possess distinct physical and chemical characteristics that make them interesting candidates as carriers of biomolecules and drug delivery transporters. They have a special role in transporting anticancer drugs with a small molecular size. Wu et al. formed amedicine carrier system using multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) and the 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) anticancer compound. As a spacer between MWCNTs and HCPT, they employed hydrophilic diamine trimethylene glycol. In vitro and in vivo, their HCPT-MWCNT conjugates showed significantly increased anticancer efficacy when compared to traditional HCPTformulations. These conjugates were able to circulate in the blood longer and were collected precisely at the tumor site [33,34].

Limitations

Manufacturing costs, extensibility, safety, and the intricacy of nanosystems must all be assessed and balanced against possible benefits. The physicochemical properties of nanoparticles in biological systems determine their biocompatibility and toxicity. As a result, stringent manufacturing and delineation of nanomaterials for delivery of anticancer drugs are essential to reduce nanocarrier toxicity to surrounding cells. Another barrier to medication delivery is ensuring public health safety, as issues with nanoparticles do not have an immediate impact. The use of nanocarriers in cancer treatment may result in unforeseen consequences. Hypothetical possibilities of environmental pollution causing cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality, production of reactive oxygen species causing inflammation and toxicity, and neuronal or dermal translocations are a few possibilities that worry scientists. Nanotoxicology, a branch of nanomedicine, has arisen as a critical topic of study, paving the way for evaluating nanoparticle toxicity [35-37].

Nanotechnology has been one of the recent advancements of science that not only has revolutionized the engineering field but also is now making its impact in the medical and paramedical field. Scientists have been successful in knowing the properties and characteristics of these nanomaterials and optimizing them for use in the healthcare industry. Although some nanoparticles have failed to convert to the clinic, other new and intriguing nanoparticles are now in research and show great potential, indicating that new treatment options may be available soon. Nanomaterials are highly versatile, with several benefits that can enhance cancer therapies and diagnostics.

These are particularly useful as drug delivery systems due to their tiny size and unique binding properties. Drugs such as doxorubicin, daunorubicin, mitoxantrone, paclitaxel, cytarabine, irinotecan, and amphotericin B are already being conjugated with liposomes for their delivery in current clinical practices. Doxorubicin, cytarabine, vincristine, daunorubicin, mitoxantrone, and paclitaxel, in particular, are key components of cancer chemotherapy. Even in the diagnosis of cancer for imaging and detection of tumor markers, particles such as nanoshells, dendrimers, and gold nanoparticles are currently in use.

Limitations of this novel technology include manufacturing expenses, extensibility, intricacy, health safety, and potential toxicity. These are being overcome adequately by extensive research and clinical trials, and nanomedicine is becoming one of the largest industries in the world. A useful collection of research tools and clinically practical gadgets will be made available in the near future thanks to advancements in nanomedicine. Pharmaceutical companies will use in vivo imaging, novel therapeutics, and enhanced drug delivery technologies in their new commercial applications. In the future, neuro-electronic interfaces and cell healing technology may change medicine and the medical industry when used to treat brain tumors.

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The Application of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment: A Review - Cureus