| Researchers at the Nanoscience Center and Faculty of Information Technology in the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, have achieved a significant step forward in predicting atomic structures of hybrid nanoparticles. | |
| A research article published in Nature Communications (“A Method for Structure-Prediction of Metal-Ligand Interfaces of Hybrid Nanoparticles”), demonstrates a new algorithm that ”learns” to predict binding sites of molecules at the metal-molecule interface of hybrid nanoparticles by using already published experimental structural information on nanoparticle reference systems. | |
| The algorithm can in principle be applied to any nanometre-size structure consisting of metals and molecules provided that some structural information already exists on the corresponding systems |
| Nanometre-sized hybrid metal nanoparticles have many applications in different processes, including catalysis, nanoelectronics, nanomedicine and biological imaging. Often it is important to know the detailed atomic structure of the particle in order to understand its functionality. The particles consist of a metal core and a protecting layer of molecules. | |
| High-resolution electron microscopes are able to produce 3D atomic structures of the metal core, but these instruments cannot detect the molecular layer that consists of light atoms such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. | |
| The new algorithm published by the researchers in Jyväskylä helps to create accurate atomic models of the particles’ total structure enabling simulations of the metal-molecule interface as well as of the surface of the molecular layer and its interactions with the environment. | |
| The algorithm can also rank the predicted atomic structural models based on how well the models reproduce measured properties of other particles of similar size and type. | |
| ”The basic idea behind our algorithm is very simple. Chemical bonds between atoms are always discrete, having well-defined bond angles and bond distances. Therefore, every nanoparticle structure known from experiments, where the positions of all atoms are resolved accurately, tells something essential about the chemistry of the metal-molecule interface. |
Image Credit: Sami Malola, University of Jyväskylä
News This Week
“Bigger than DNA” — how AI is transforming the pharma industry
Artificial intelligence hit a big milestone in January — the first drug designed entirely using artificial intelligence entered human clinical trials. The compound, created by Oxford-based biotech company Exscientia, is aimed at treating obsessive-compulsive [...]
Achilles’ heel of ALL viruses? Scientists discover holy grail which could lead to UNIVERSAL vaccine
Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the US have uncovered the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of most viruses which plague mankind, and could soon develop a universal vaccine. Vaccine research, development and testing takes [...]
Small world: atom-scale materials are the next tech frontier
Every age in the history of human civilisation has a signature material, from the Stone Age, to the Bronze and Iron Ages. We might even call today’s information-driven society the Silicon Age. Since the [...]
Human textiles to repair blood vessels
What if we could replace a patient's damaged blood vessels with brand new ones produced in a laboratory? This is the challenge set by Inserm researcher Nicolas L'Heureux, who is working on the human [...]
CRISPR cancer trial finds that gene-edited immune cells are safe
CRISPR gene-edited immune cells have been injected into three people with advanced cancer without any serious side effects, the first trial of its kind in the US. It is also the first CRISPR cancer [...]
Updated – Worldwide Press for “Human Brain/Cloud Interface”
“We’ll have nanobots that… connect our neocortex to a synthetic neocortex in the cloud. Our thinking will be a…. biological and non-biological hybrid.” Ray Kurzweil, TED 2014 UPDATE - February 9 2020 Since [...]
NanoApps Athletics Inc. Established
Frank Boehm (NanoApps Medical Inc. founder) and Amanda Scott (NA CEO) join NanoApps Athletics Inc. NanoApps Athletics Inc proposes a unique synergistic biochemical/nanomedical strategy for the expedited repair and healing of Achilles tendon micro [...]
Jamilee Baroud Podcast – Frank Boehm (NA Founder) Interview
In her inaugural podcast, Jamilee interviews Frank Boehm of NanoApps Medical Inc and NanoApps Athletics Inc. From Jamilee's podcast: Welcome to the first episode of "In a Click". On todays show I chat with [...]
A megalibrary of nanoparticles
Using straightforward chemistry and a mix-and-match, modular strategy, researchers have developed a simple approach that could produce over 65,000 different types of complex nanoparticles, each containing up to six different materials and eight segments, [...]
Nano-thin flexible touchscreens could be printed like newspaper
Researchers have developed an ultra-thin and ultra-flexible electronic material that could be printed and rolled out like newspaper, for the touchscreens of the future. The touch-responsive technology is 100 times thinner than existing touchscreen [...]
The strange link between the human mind and quantum physics
Nobody understands what consciousness is or how it works. Nobody understands quantum mechanics either. Could that be more than coincidence? "It is hard to avoid the implication that consciousness and quantum mechanics are [...]
The University of Queensland confident it can develop a vaccine for coronavirus
The University of Queensland (UQ) is confident it can develop a vaccine for the potentially deadly coronavirus in as few as 16 weeks are two more people in Brisbane are monitored for the virus. [...]
Walking with atoms
Ever since it was proposed that atoms are building blocks of the world, scientists have been trying to understand how and why they bond to each other. Be it a molecule (which is a [...]
3D printing with applications in the pharmaceutical industry
University of Seville researchers, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, have managed to create the first image of nanoparticles of stabilised gold with biodegradable and biocompatible systems that have been obtained with 3D-printng [...]
Fighting drug-resistant superbugs with bacteria-shredding nanoparticles
Researchers have used liquid metals to develop new bacteria-destroying technology that could be the answer to the deadly problem of antibiotic resistance. The technology uses nano-sized particles of magnetic liquid metal to shred bacteria [...]
Team Builds the First Living Robots
A book is made of wood. But it is not a tree. The dead cells have been repurposed to serve another need. Now a team of scientists has repurposed living cells—scraped from [...]
