NanomedicineCenter.com

Carbon nanotubes can detect lung cancer

At the Israel Institute of Technology, a team of scientists led by Hossam Huick, Ph.D., have developed a new diagnostic device which is able to detect lung cancer by sampling the patient’s breath. To create the device, they combined multiple carbon nanotube devices.

The nanotube devices were coated with organic materials. They used a microprocessor to create the sensors, and thanks to various organic materials used for coating, they were able to detect over two hundred sensations from the human breath.

The research was done on ten both healthy patientis, and the ones with lung cancer. After the processing, they were able to see the difference. The research is now being done on a larger group of patients.

What is DNA nanotechnology

DNA nanotechnology is a nanotechnology division focused on using certain properties of DNA and other nucleic acids to create more complex structures. The DNA is here used more as a structural component rather than a carrier of genetic material.

One of the characteristics of DNA is molecular recognition, and that’s what makes creating DNA complexes possible. DNA is normally a linear molecule, unbranched. Now, it is possible to combine, for example, four individual complementary DNA molecules to create a four-arm complex. Of course, chains have to be complementary to connect (due to Watson-Crick rule – base pairing).

One of the most important junctions that can be made by using this process is DX or double crossover. Here we have two DNA duplexes which share two junction spots, and strands cross from one duplex into another.

There are more types of arrays — one-, two- and three-dimensional. An example of 1D arrays are DNA nanotubes, 2D is present in a process called DNA origami, and DNA polyhedra is 3D.

All the DNA complexes that are made change their properties upon a certain stimulus. There are DNA machines, which are actually machines made from DNA. The most famous one is molecular tweezers. DNA nanotechnology is applied in DNA nanocomputing.

Nanoparticles enter the food chain?

A group of scientists at the University of Delaware have discovered that plants can store nanoparticles in their tissues. This is the first experiment that proves this thesis. This means that nanoparticles could become a part of the food chain, because plants are it’s foundation.

The whole experiment was done by using pumpkin plants. “We did it to show the place and the impact of nanoparticles in the environment. This is a preliminary study, but we hope to have more details soon.” says Yan Jin, a professor at the University of Delaware who lead the research crew.
“We chose pumpkins because they’re easy to grow and can take a lot of water.”

The plants were grown in an aqueous medium and mostly iron oxide nanoparticles were added. After twenty days, the plants were cut in pieces and dried. Magnetometer was used to detect if any nanoparticles were absorbed by the plant.
“This is a really new technique when doing this kind of research.” says Jin. Magnetometer showed “positive” results, and the exact location of nanoparticles in the plant’s tissue. The crew also did the same research on lima beans, but the magnetometer results were “negative”. That means that various plants act different.

The study was published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring and was funded by EPSCoR, NSF and the state of Delaware.