NanomedicineCenter.com

A new nanodevice detects salmonella

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Bosoon Park at the Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit in Athens, Georgia, by using nanotechnology techniques and standards, successfully developed a nanodevice which can detect salmonella in food. This device (biosensor) may be of great value for food safety and security.

When someone eats food “poisoned” by salmonella, he gets salmonellosis — a condition characterized by nausea, vomiting, and sometimes death.

The device includes fluorescent organic dye particles attached to salmonella antibodies. The antibodies hook on to salmonella bacteria and the dye lights up like a beacon, making the bacteria easier to see.

Gold nanoparticles shine again

Scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), by using gold nanoparticles and infrared light, have designed a drug delivery system that allows multiple drugs to be released in a controlled manner. The system could be used in treatments which require more than one drug.

“With a lot of diseases, especially cancer and AIDS, you get a synergistic effect with more than one drug,” said Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, one of the authors.

Devices like this can be found on the market already, but have some disadvantages when compared to the new one. For example, the time of releasing the drug must be programmed into the device — it cannot be controlled from outside the patient’s body. This new device (system) allows complete external control and supports up to 3 or 4 drugs.

This new method takes advantage of the fact that when gold nanoparticles are exposed to infrared light, they melt and release drug payloads attached to their surfaces.
Nanoparticles of different shapes respond to different infrared wavelengths, so “just by controlling the infrared wavelength, we can choose the release time” for each drug, said Andy Wijaya, the lead author of the study.

Source: web.mit.edu

Best of nanomedicine in 2008

Nanomedicine is a very exciting and much-explored field of nanotechnology, and many scientists and researchers are constantly working on various projects. That’s why there have been many interesting studies, stories and research in the year behind us.

We have compiled a list of five most viewed stories that were published on NanomedicineCenter.com. Enjoy.

1. Biotech stocks hold enormous investment promise in 2009

2. Revolutionary device which costs $100 treats cancer

3. Nanodevice detects drugs in saliva

4. Nanotechnology and dental implants

5. How to prevent foot odour