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Insulin pill in development

January 25th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Disease treatment, Nanoparticles

Scientists from India, lead by Chandra Sharma, while attending a conference in Sydney, Australia, announced that they are working on developing an insulin pill that is supposed to enormously help the diabetics, who are now using painful injections to control their blood sugar levels.
“We have already developed the capsule form of the insulin. We have already tried it on pigs and rats,” says Sharma.

Researchers from India have found a technique to package the insulin in nanoparticles so that it is both protected from stomach acids and is able to get through the intestinal wall and into the liver and bloodstream. When the nanoparticles arrive in the bloodstream, they break and release the insulin (because of the pH of blood). “This is a much more physiological way of giving the insulin,” says Sharma.

Experiments on pigs and rats were successful, and that’s why scientists have faith in this research and hope to develop the same for humans.

The research was funded by the government of India.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Beauty/Insulin_jabs_will_soon_be_a_passe/articleshow/4030069.cms

New biosensor developed

January 23rd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Nanomedicine News

Scientists from the Purdue University have developed a new biosensor, based on nanomedicine standards, which is able to detect glucose in blood and potentially many more molecules.

The device is a tiny cube-shaped tetherball, and uses hollow structures called single-wall carbon nanotubes anchored to gold-coated nanocubes.
“Each tetherball is a sensor and is anchored to electronic circuitry by a nanotube, which acts as both a tether and ultrathin wire to conduct electrical signals,” said Professor Timothy Fisher, who lead the research. He also said that this device detects glucose in blood better than any other device on the market and that it could be used in various branches of medicine to detect numerous biological molecules.

“It might be part of a catheter to continuously monitor blood glucose for diabetics,” said Associate Professor Marshall Porterfield. “And it might have many other applications, including basic scientific research to study diseases and biological processes.”

The research is published in ACS Nano.

Source: upi.com/Science_News/2009/01/22/Precise_nanotechnology_biosensor_developed/UPI-41801232652682/

Insurance companies won’t cover nanotechnology anymore

January 22nd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Nanomedicine News

Nanotechnology and its subfields, especially nanomedicine, are getting bigger every day. The development is very fast, new things are discovered all the time. The technology has already revolutionized electronics (many electronic devices contain nanomaterials), doctors and pharmaceutical companies are relying on nanomedicine to discover better ways to deliver drugs. However, how nanomaterials affect the environment and humans hasn’t really been proven yet. That’s why insurance companies find it impossible for them to “swim” in the nanotechnology area.
As of August 2008, according to a research by NanotechProject.org, there are 803 products on the market that are using nanomaterials.

nanotechnology-products

“Nanotechnology is a big problem because the technology is moving much faster, as we all know, than information on health and environmental safety,” said Robert Blaunstein of Nanotechnology Risk Management, a firm that advises industries, insurers, and investors on how to best manage the risks of nanotechnology.
The largest insurance companies seem to agree. “The biggest challenge facing insurers may be the diverse nature of nanotechnology and the lack of information regarding its impact to health and the environment,” wrote David Baxter in a newsletter of SafeNano Initiative.

“Generally speaking, the role of the insurance industry is always enabling risk taking,” said Thomas Epprecht, an expert on emerging risks in risk engineering services at Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies. “Because risk is our business, nanotechnology is up front…subject to risk consideration.”

Nanotechnology is an “enabling technology”, said Blaunstein, a veteran of the insurance industry. “For the most part, it will improve products, which means better business for insurers. If they learn more about it, learn more on how to manage it, I think clearly they would be in a better position to provide insurance,” he said. “And that is already happening, he says. Insurers are already carefully watching nanotechnology.”

Source: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es900041e / Photo courtesy of nanotechproject.org

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