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It is a great pleasure for me to receive your messsage and It is nice to me to be a freind for you. So, my research realm is microelectronics and signal processing. Now, I'm teacher at the University in Algeria (In the south of Algeria).
I'm waiting for your kind comments and messages,
With Best regards,
Med
Don't know if this came in on your radar or not but it is in your neck of the woods. Enjoy!
Posted on Thu, Aug. 07, 2008
Scientists: Shape is key in nanomedicine
By ZOE ELIZABETH BUCK
RALEIGH, N.C.
The emerging science of nanomedicine has researchers rushing to make smaller and smaller particles in an effort to infiltrate the microscopic world of cells, strands and proteins that keeps our body functioning.
But a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center says that making the particles tiny is not all that's necessary. Instead, the key to interacting effectively with our bodys' microscopic systems is molding the drugs into the right shape, UNC-CH scientists reported this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
"Shape matters a lot in biology, we've known that for years," said Joseph DeSimone, a chemistry professor at UNC-CH who led the research team.
Nature figured out how to infiltrate our bodies ages ago. Rod-shaped bacteria evolved to sneak past our defenses and invade the nuclei of cells. So by imitating the shape of this bacteria, DeSimone's team figured, scientists could launch cancer-fighting therapies into the nuclei of cells.
"It's a very exciting possibility," DeSimone said, noting that the idea is intriguing big pharmaceutical companies as well. DeSimone's company, Liquidia, is working to bring the UNC-CH technology into manufacturing as soon as possible. He said Liquidia is already working with pharmaceutical companies to develop medical applications, and they hope to move into clinical trials within two years.
Vaccine development is at the top of DeSimone's list of potential applications.
Vaccines - such as the new shot Gardasil, which protects against human papillomavirus - often need to be administered multiple times to be effective, because the body will typically clear out the drug before the proper immune response has time to develop. But the right shaped vaccine nanoparticles could fool the body into letting the vaccine circulate in the bloodstream for longer periods of time, reducing the number of required doses.
In the third world, where getting a shot could mean miles of travel on foot, condensing immunization regimens into a single dose could save lives.
Another promising application for custom shaped nanoparticles is chemotherapy, which currently can be devastating to a patient's body.
"There are a lot of chemotherapy drugs that are really toxic to the heart or the kidney," DeSimone said. "By controlling the size and shape we should be able to de-target these organs."
To create the synthetic particles, DeSimone's team developed what are essentially a series of microscopic muffin pans made of clear plastic. DeSimone held up a sheet, and pointed a laser beam at it. The pattern of light refracted on the tabletop revealed the tiny rod shaped molds of various lengths imprinted in the plastic - synthetic versions of the rod-shaped bacteria.
The UNC-CH team also manufactures molds that create worm shapes, red blood cell shapes, and donut shapes, among others.
DeSimone said additional applications of this technology are extensive.
Dangerous pollutants could be shaped in such a way that our bodies would be unable to absorb them. Patients could be transfused with synthetic red blood cells matching their specific blood type. Cargo particles could sneak RNA into the nucleus of cells to stop the production of proteins associated with cancer.
"This is important for environmental scientists, drug designers, oncologists, dermatologists, inhalation, any number of fields," DeSimone said. "Nobody else is doing this. It's a huge unmet need."
The ability to control how particles interact with our bodies comes at a critical point in the development of commercial nanotechnology. Critics fear that we don't know enough about the nanoparticles now being used in consumer products, including cosmetics, sunscreens and textiles, and that they could have adverse biological effects.
Terry Davies, a senior adviser for the Projects for Emerging Nanotechnologies in Washington, D.C., said the very promise of the tiny particles is also a danger.
"Their small size means that they can get to places that other things can't," Davies said. "Particles taken in a dietary supplement could end up in the brain or the placenta, we just don't know."
The small size could also change the properties of familiar materials, he added.
"Aluminum in ordinary amounts is something we use every day, but nano-sized aluminum is highly explosive," he said.
Davies' worries are supported by a study published in the May edition of Nature Nanotechnology. The study found that carbon nanotubes could have the same devastating effects on the lungs as asbestos.
"We've never had a broad technology that did not have some adverse consequences," Davies said. "Right now we just don't know enough to say what the consequences could be."
DeSimone said he recognizes the importance understanding the consequences of letting nanoparticles loose in the human body, and has made it the focus of his research. By designing the nanoparticles carefully and precisely, he said, the UNC-CH team can understand and control what they interact with, and how.
"When you have the ability to precisely control both the size and shape of the particles, you can lay out the ground rules to understand exactly what roles they play," DeSimone said.
Thanks for the add, I'm sure there is a lot of synergy working here. If you have viewed my profile you will have noticed that I am very involved in Nanotechnology,NanoSpace,NanoComputers, and NanoMedicine. Being located in a strategic area of NASA/JSC and Houston with its various research centers and medical centers, I have been privileged to work with some of the finest minds in the Nano realm. I was very close with Dr. Richard Smalley and we both pushed NASA hard to start working on programs to assist our Astronauts while they are in Space.
This very picture caught us discussing the various applications we could use. Again looking forward to sharing our thoughts.CaptNano
Thanks for your comments and opinion about India. We Indians are verymuch softhearted and want to welcome each and everyone in the world. I am a bioinformatician and evolutionary biologist and working as a post doc in tel aviv university.
thanks once again
with regards
Raj
I have found you are working with CNTs, right ? What especially are you interested in CNTs ? Are you experimentalist ?
I am experimentalist (www.nanoleszek.com)but also I am doing some calculations on CNTs. The list of my papers you can easily find by searching machine. At present the composite of CNTs are the most important for me. Let me know what are you doing now. My best regards,
Leszek
Thank you for adding me as friend.
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