Conventional cancer therapies risk causing damage to healthy tissue while working to destroy cancer cells. Researchers are developing novel therapeutics based on nanotechnology to overcome this limitation, as well as to improve the pharmacokinetics of a pharmaceutical and reduce the related toxicities (Nat Rev Drug Discov 2021; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41573-020-0090-8). Another encouraging area of nanotechnology in oncology is [...]
With the advent of Big Data, current computational architectures are proving to be insufficient. Difficulties in decreasing transistors' size, large power consumption and limited operating speeds make neuromorphic computing a promising alternative. Neuromorphic computing, a new brain-inspired computation paradigm, reproduces the activity of biological synapses by using artificial neural networks. Such devices work as [...]
The occurrence of microplastics in nature has been studied extensively, also at the University of Eastern Finland. However, little is known about the health effects of microplastics, and understanding of their transport into the human body is also lacking. Any adverse health effects possibly associated with plastics may be caused by the plastic compound [...]
T cells, also known as lymphocytes, have important roles in various immune reactions. However, there are only a few reports on delivery systems into T cells. Associate Professor Chie Kojima and her co-workers from Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University (OPU), collaborating with Professor Ikuo Fujii and Ikuhiko Nakase [...]
A paper published in the journal ACS Applied Bio Materials demonstrates the feasibility of nanocomposites synthesized from silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and carbon nanodots (C-dots) as an antibacterial agent against bacterial infections in fish, specifically in freshwater-farmed fish. Background The rapid expansion and development of the aquaculture industry in recent years has gradually increased the incidence of [...]
Nanoparticles, or particles whose size varies between 1 and 100 nanometers, have shown tremendous potential in many areas of science and technology, including therapeutics. However, conventional, synthetic nanoparticles are complicated and expensive to produce. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), which have emerged as an alternative option to synthetic nanoparticles, show challenges for mass production. Another recently [...]
Novel research on advancing heart valves has included the innovative use of carbon nanotubes modified with heparin. This pre-proof research has been submitted to the journal of Materials Chemistry and Physics and aims to alleviate the burden of heart valve replacements. Heart Valves: What are They and Why are They Important? There are four valves within [...]
Researchers at UC Davis Health have engineered a novel antibody, FuG1, that can directly interfere with the cell-to-cell transmission ability of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. FuG1 targets the enzyme furin, which the virus uses for its efficient chain of infections in human cells. The approach could be added to existing SARS-CoV-2 antibody cocktails [...]
James Dahlman and Phil Santangelo are helping to define an evolving era in medicine, one in which messenger ribonucleic acid—mRNA—can be delivered directly to cells to fight against disease. And their latest groundbreaking study could clear the way to faster therapeutic discoveries. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic put a global spotlight on mRNA-based vaccines, [...]
Scientists have recently applied cellulose nanofibers to mitigate the fire damage in historic papers. This study has been recently published in Nano-Micro Small. Importance of Conserving Historical Papers The Latin proverb “verba volant, scripta manent” has rightly indicated that spoken word flies away but written words stay. A major part of our culture has been documented in [...]
