DNA nanotechnology goes 3D

News > Nanowerk Spotlight >

Posted: January 29, 2009

DNA nanotechnology goes 3D

(Nanowerk Spotlight) DNA, the fundamental building block of life, has become an intense nanotechnology research field. DNA molecules can serve as precisely controllable and programmable scaffolds for organizing functional nanomaterials in the design, fabrication, and characterization of nanoscale devices such as sensors and electronics (see: “Nanotechnology cut and paste with single molecules “) or “DNA electronics in nanotechnology”).

Most DNA research on controlled self-assembly deals with two-dimensional, i.e. flat, patterns and an expansion of these arrays into the third dimension has been challenging. New research coming out of UC Santa Barbara describes the self-assembly of multilayer hexagonal DNA arrays through highly regular interlayer packing.

“We found that DNA arrays assembled into a two dimensional hexagonal pattern, or a sheet, assemble further into multilayer stacks,” Norbert Reich tells Nanowerk. “What is more interesting is that these multilayer stacks have certain rules for assembly. The DNA sheets interact with one another at specific rotational and translational orientations.”

Unlike the formation of DNA crystals or DNA hydrogels, layer by layer assembly has an advantage as various layers can pack within three-dimensional structures, thereby providing different pore sizes for guest molecule incorporation.

Reporting their work in Langmuir (“Self-Assembly of DNA Arrays into Multilayer Stacks”), Reich and his team point out that high resolution visualization of these structures is beyond the capability of atomic force microscopy, but they believe three-dimensional architectures to be one of the exciting directions of the nucleic acid nanotechnology.

“Artificial nucleic acid architectures have been mostly restricted to a plane” explains Alexey Koyfman, first author of the paper (he was a graduate student in Reich’s group and is now a postdoc at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas). “Most of these structures are imaged with atomic force microscopy (AFM) but 3D objects are not easily visualized by AFM. Recently, 3D objects have been assembled as whole objects and imaged by cryo electron microscopy. Our findings now demonstrate that it is possible to make 3D architectures using layer by layer assembly of DNA sheets.”

The team was successful at visualizing and identifying three layers but they mention that they have also seen assemblies composed of more than three sheets.

AFM and cross section of two-layer and multilayer assemblies. Multilayer assemblies form at low Mg2+ concentration. The cross section (black line) was shown to represent the height of a two-layer assembly (2.5 nm) rotated 30° with respect to one another and a taller multilayer assembly that is 8.8 nm in height. (Reprinted with permission from American Chemical Society)

“AFM was not a good tool to accurately show how many layers these architectures had” says Koyfman. “Hopefully techniques such as cryo electron tomography can help in the visualization of multilayer architectures.”

One of the challenges in the field is to assemble nucleic acids into large uniform arrays. The structures described by Reich’s team are made of a 3-point star DNA motif that could extend microns across with the same repeating hexagonal pattern of a honeycomb pattern.

“We have previously reported that positive gold nanoparticles can fit within negative nucleic acid architectures” says Reich (“Controlled Spacing of Cationic Gold Nanoparticles by Nanocrown RNA”). “This work concentrated on 5 nm particles that can fit within 5 nm nucleic acid architectures. We wanted to try the larger hexagonal DNA architecture to fit larger nanoparticles using electrostatic interactions. So we were aiming to make hexagonally positioned nanoparticles in a plane that could extend microns across.”

In their experiments, the scientists found that slow cooling of a mixture of three single-stranded DNA sequences in the presence of Mg2+ results in formation of 3-point star motifs that self-assemble into 2D hexagonal DNA arrays which furthermore form diverse multilayer architectures.

“The size of the two-dimensional arrays and subsequent stacking to form multilayer structures are highly dependent on Mg2+ concentration” explains Koyfman. “We found that DNA bilayers and multilayers of defined shape are favored in 2-5 mM Mg2+ with an average lateral size of 700 nm. Arrays are much larger, up to 20 µm across, in 10-15 mM Mg2+.”

There are a number of potential applications for this kind of research. One is the organization of inorganic materials on the DNA architecture, i.e. using DNA as scaffolds. Due to the multilayer packing of DNA sheets it is theoretically possible to position materials within the three dimensional framework of the DNA.

Koyfman mentions that it would also be interesting to investigate the bulk properties of DNA or slightly modified nucleic acids. “Nucleic acids carry information and take advantage of hydrogen bonds to form a double helix. Nucleic acids could prove to be macroscale functional materials due to their nanoscale properties.”

Reich’s group has also been working on attaching DNA structures to cancer cells. The attached DNA array could possibly carry a number of therapeutic molecules that could then penetrate a tumor cell. The way Koyfman puts it, “the cell in a way has a DNA ‘band-aid’ with potential cargo attachment sites”. They are in the process of submitting this paper, so details about this work are not available yet.

By Michael Berger. Copyright 2008 Nanowerk LLC

New nanotubes carry space elevator idea higher

Jan. 26, 2009

Scientists from Cambridge University have developed a light, flexible, and strong type of carbon nanotube material that may bring space elevators closer to reality. Motivated by a $4 million prize from NASA, the scientists found a way to combine multiple separate nanotubes together to form long strands. Until now, carbon nanotubes have been too brittle to be formed into such long pieces.

A space elevator would extend 22,000 miles above the Earth to a station, and then another 40,000 miles to a weighted structure for stability.

And a space elevator—if it ever becomes reality—will be quite long. NASA needs about 144,000 miles of nanotube to build one. In theory, a cable would extend 22,000 miles above the Earth to a station, which is the distance at which satellites remain in geostationary orbit. Due to the competing forces of the Earth’s gravity and outward centrifugal pull, the elevator station would remain at that distance like a satellite. Then the cable would extend another 40,000 miles into space to a weighted structure for stability. An elevator car would be attached to the nanotube cable and powered into space along the track.

NASA and its partner, the Spaceward Foundation, hope that a space elevator could serve as a cost-effective and relatively clean mode of space transportation. NASA’s current shuttle fleet is set to retire in 2010, and the organization doesn’t have enough funds to replace it until 2014 at the earliest. To fill the gap, NASA is hiring out shuttles to provide transportation to the International Space Station from private companies.

So NASA could use a space elevator, the sooner the better. Space elevators could lift material at just one-fifth the cost of a rocket, since most of a rocket’s energy is used simply to escape Earth’s gravity. Not only could a space elevator offer research expeditions for astronauts, the technology could also expand the possibilities for space tourism and even space colonization.

Currently, the Cambridge team can make about 1 gram of the new carbon material per day, which can stretch to 18 miles in length. Alan Windle, professor of materials science at Cambridge, says that industrial-level production would be required to manufacture NASA’s request for 144,000 miles of nanotube. Nevertheless, the web-like nanotube material is promising.

“The key thing is that the process essentially makes carbon into smoke, but because the smoke particles are long thin nanotubes, they entangle and hold hands,” Windle said. “We are actually making elastic smoke, which we can then wind up into a fiber.”

Windle and his colleagues presented their results last month at a conference in Luxembourg, which attracted hundreds of attendees from groups such as NASA and the European Space Agency. John Winter of EuroSpaceward, which organized the conference, thought the new material was a significant step.

“The biggest problem has always been finding a material that is strong enough and lightweight enough to stretch tens of thousands of miles into space,” said Winter. “This isn’t going to happen probably for the next decade at least, but in theory this is now possible. The advances in materials for the tether are very exciting.”

Coverage at Gizmodo, http://i.gizmodo.com/5137441/new-nasa-carbon-material-could-make-space-elevators-possible\

Coverage at Times Online, UK, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article5529668.ece

SOURCE: PhysOrg.com
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Rockaway, NJ, 07866

Guide Launched to Prepare Americans for Newly Passed Health Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 9, 2008

This pertains to DNA protection and is also a protection policy of GeneWize Life Sciences. Although every individual should be aware of this.

Guide Launched to Prepare Americans for Newly Passed Health Legislation
Coalition for Genetic Fairness Unveils Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Resource

WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 9, 2008 – The Coalition for Genetic Fairness today announced the launch of an interactive, online guide to the landmark Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The resource, “What Does GINA Mean? A Guide to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act”, summarizes the protections of the first civil rights legislation passed in the new millennium and outlines its impact on the future of health in America.

Fully effective November 2009, GINA is the first and only federal legislation that will provide protections against discrimination based on an individual’s genetic information in health insurance coverage and employment settings. However, many outside the genetics community remain uniformed and unaware of GINA’s passing and its implications.

“The guide is the first of many educational resources the genetics community will create to increase GINA awareness,” said Sharon Terry, president of the Coalition and chief executive officer of Genetic Alliance. “We encourage individuals and organizations to use the resource to ask and answer questions about genetic discrimination, then adapt it within their community to improve early detection and avoidance of health threats.”

Access the guide at http://www.geneticfairness.org/ginaresource.html to learn about the history of the legislation, hypothetical situations of genetic discrimination, and key examples and definitions. The guide includes information for: the general public, clinicians and healthcare providers, employers, health insurers, researchers, and state officials.

“This interactive guide provides an opportunity for Americans to understand our new rights in a range of practical situations,” added Jeremy Gruber, legal director for the National Workrights Institute and longtime member of the Executive Committee of the Coalition for Genetic Fairness. “It is designed as a forum to spark discussions that will identify and eliminate barriers to transforming proactive health management through genetics. Our goal is for all users to update and enhance the resource; because of our collective contribution the tool will become more fluid and useful over time.”

The Coalition for Genetic Fairness will continue to work alongside other leaders in the genetics community to raise awareness about genetic discrimination and support pending regulations to protect and enforce the rights GINA affords.

###

The Coalition for Genetic Fairness is an alliance of advocacy organizations, health professionals, and industry leaders working to educate Congressional policymakers about the importance of legal protections for genetic information and ensure passage of meaningful genetic information nondiscrimination legislation.

The Coalition for Genetic Fairness is led by: Genetic Alliance, Affymetrix, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Society of Human Genetics (www.ashg.org), Brown University, Hadassah, National Society of Genetic Counselors, and the National Workrights Institute.

Coalition for Genetic Fairness · http://www.geneticfairness.org · 4301 Connecticut Ave. NW #404, Washington DC · 20008-2369 · Phone: 202.966.5557 · Fax: 202.966.8553

Nanotechnology Bill Would Have Obama Think Small

The U.S. House of Representatives Technology Committee has reintroduced legislation to reauthorize the National Nanotechnology Initiative and beef up environmental and health research related to nanotechnology. The bill is essentially the same one overwhelmingly passed by the full House last fall.

It never made it though the Senate, thanks to the economic meltdown, the election, and the indictment of Ted Stevens (R-AK), which forced a shuffle of committee assignments among lawmakers in the Senate. Now the issue of how carefully the government should scrutinize nanotechnology will in large part be up to the new president.

Even if the house nano bill had made it, it wasn’t clear whether President Bush would have signed off. Administration officials lobbied successfully to have some provisions removed from the bill, which was reintroduced last week, such as the requirement for spending a specified percentage of NNI funds on environmental, health, and safety (EHS) research.

But other controversial provisions remain, including the requirement to appoint an associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to be the coordinator—or, if you like, NanoTzar—for all EHS research across the 25 federal agencies that are part of the NNI.

Another sore spot: The bill creates a standing advisory committee for EHS matters, stripping it away from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Even though PCAST has a higher profile, and thus is more likely to be able to bend the President’s ear, they have less hands on expertise in nano-EHS research.

So, now team Obama will have to decide soon whether they’re comfortable with the House bill or to push for changes in the Senate.

—Robert Service

Posted on January 21, 2009 3:01 PM in

• Environment/Climate,
• Physical Science

| Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Swallowing a nanotechnology pill

News > Nanowerk Spotlight >

Posted: January 19, 2009

Swallowing a nanotechnology pill

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Typically, nanoparticles have been used for drug delivery and it is only recently that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained attention as potential drug delivery vehicles (see: “Nanotechnology’s magic bullet “). Carbon nanotubes offer a number of advantages which suggest that they may provide an improved result over nanoparticles. They have a larger inner volume which allows more drug molecules to be encapsulated, and this volume is more easily accessible because the end caps can be easily removed, and they have distinct inner and outer surfaces for functionalization. Current research has shown the ability of CNTs to carry a variety of molecules such as drugs, DNA, proteins, peptides, targeting ligands etc. into cells – which makes them suitable candidates for targeted delivery applications. Despite these advantages, a suitable delivery system has not been developed yet for the targeted delivery of CNTs to specific sites.

A research team from various Canadian and U.S. universities has now demonstrated, for the first time, the design and development of a novel microcapsule carbon nanotube targeted delivery device.

“Our results have shown that carbon nanotubes functionalized with therapeutic molecules can be embedded into the core or at the surface of different types of alginate capsules to form novel polymeric membrane CNT microcapsules,” Satya Prakash tells Nanowerk. “The membrane offers protection to the drug being carried, while the CNTs help achieve targeted delivery of the therapeutic.”

As CNTs can be functionalized with drugs and biomarkers specific to a disease, this device can be targeted for a specific site for optimal clinical benefits and it can easily limit the exposure of the drug to healthy tissues of the body to overcome potential drug induced toxic side-effects.

Prakash, an associate professor in biomedical engineering, at McGill University and director of the university’s Biomedical Technology and Cell Therapy Research Laboratory, and his collaborators expect their device to have great potential in the delivery of drugs, genes, proteins and other therapeutic molecules. Together with scientists from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Southern Illinois University, and Rice University he has published the team’s findings in the January 14, 2009 print edition of Nanotechnology (“Microcapsule carbon nanotube devices for therapeutic applications”).

“There is abundant literature in the area of functionalizing CNTs with a variety of therapeutics” says Prakash. “However, almost all studies so far have been focusing on the systemic delivery of the CNTs. Oral delivery is the most convenient route of administration for therapeutics and also offers the advantage of achieving targeted delivery, specifically for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. There was a need to combine the advances in carbon nanotube research with those in drug delivery systems. Our study, for the first time, investigates the feasibility of designing a polymeric membrane microcapsule CNT device that can be used in oral delivery applications.”

Example of a polymeric membrane CNT device in colon targeted delivery applications. (Image: Dr. Prakash, McGill University)

So far, the use of CNTs in oral drug delivery – which is one of the most common and convenient route of therapeutics administrations – has not been possible to achieve. During oral delivery a drug must survive the harsh conditions of the gastrointestinal tract and retain its potency to be effective, and CNTs must be released with their cargo at a specific gastrointestinal site.

The team used single-walled CNTs, which they functionalized with hydrophilic carboxylic acid and hydroxyl groups, and then embedded them in the core of alginate microcapsules or coated them on their surface. By using an automated microencapsulator they were able to obtain highly uniform capsules.

“The nanotubes on the capsule surface can be functionalized with antibodies to promote adhesion of the capsules to specific target sites in vivo, thereby facilitating targeted delivery while the embedded CNTs can be functionalized with suitable biomolecules for drug/gene delivery at the site of adhesion upon degradation of the capsule at the target site,” explains Prakash. “The biocompatibility of the nanotubes and the encapsulation materials, which has been already established through various studies, makes it possible to use this device for therapeutic purposes.”

A particular challenge for the medical application of carbon nanotubes will be their biocompatibility, something which currently is a considerable area of concern, especially with conflicting reports on their toxicity (see: “Comparing apples with oranges – the problem of nanotubes risk assessment “). Long term toxicity studies will have to be conducted in order to establish the safety of this device.

By Michael Berger. Copyright 2008 Nanowerk LLC

LIFEBOAT FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES TRIPLE PARTNERSHIP

The HTML version of this press release is at

http://lifeboat.com/ex/press.releases.triple.partnership

LIFEBOAT FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES TRIPLE PARTNERSHIP

Abstract

The Lifeboat Foundation announces a triple partnership including the

Lifeboat Foundation, Nanotech-Now, and The American Journal of

Bioethics.

Story

January 16, 2009 – The Lifeboat Foundation has activated a triple

partnership including the Lifeboat Foundation, Nanotech-Now, and The

American Journal of Bioethics.

The Lifeboat Foundation is launching a monthly column addressing the

ethical issues that scientists and consumers of nanotechnology will

face. Its column editor is Lifeboat Foundation Scientific Advisory Board

member Summer Johnson, who is Executive Managing Editor of The American

Journal of Bioethics and Chief Operating Officer, Bioethics Education

Network.  Her bio is at http://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.summer.johnson

Summer says

“The literature in this area is not growing at nearly 1/10th of the

pace of the nanoscience literature itself and it is my belief that

ethicists, scientists, and lay people should be aware of these

issues (sooner rather than later).”

Summer wrote the first column which has now been published at

http://www.nanotech-now.com/columns/?article=263 The next three columns

will be authored by the Lifeboat Foundation’s Bob Krone, Tom Powers, and

Tihamer T. Toth-Fejel.

Nanotech-Now has agreed to run this column. They will give the column

front and center placement once a month for 24 hours then a rotation

down the homepage as their other columns load their articles. Google

News indexes their columns every 15 minutes.

The American Journal of Bioethics and its website, bioethics.net are

also sponsoring the column by featuring it on their website as well as

their blog. In addition, for each column, they will coordinate the

production of an accompanying podcast by the author discussing the

column which will be hosted on their website, podcast.bioethics.net.

Bioethics.net has approximately 22 million viewers per year and

podcast.bioethics.net, started just last year, averaged 20,000 downloads

per podcast in 2008. They have the technological capacity to do these

podcasts with authors around the country and make them available 24/7.

Soon they will have a site via Beyond Campus on iTunes University where

they will transfer all of this material and repost it as a channel

accessible to all via iTunes or RSS feed on bioethics.net.

####

About Lifeboat Foundation

The Lifeboat Foundation is a nonprofit nongovernmental organization

dedicated to encouraging scientific advancements while helping humanity

survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful

technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and

robotics/AI, as we move towards a technological singularity.

Contacts:

Lifeboat Foundation News office

1638 Esmeralda Avenue

Minden, NV 89423, USA

+1 775-329-0180

press@lifeboat.com

A Gift from CaptNano and Mike Filsaime

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Taking the NanoPulse — Nanotechnology. It Makes a World of Difference.

The World Economic Forum brings nanotech elite to China for global problem solving. By Scott E. Rickert

Nov. 20, 2008 — Here in the U.S., we’re putting nanotechnology to work making everyday products better, from car parts to packaging, paint to skin cream. Around the world, however, the brightest minds of this generation are focusing on nanotechnology as the solution to our very biggest global problems. The goal is nothing less than using nanotechnology to bring the basic necessities of life to every corner of the globe, raising the standard of living for every citizen of the world, and helping facilitate world peace with more universal abundance. Sound audacious? You bet. And I was fortunate enough to play a part in this next wave at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of The New Champions in Tianjen, China. Scientists, government officials and business leaders came from scores of countries on every continent, all seeking technology-based answers to the challenges that face all 6.7 billion citizens of our planet. I saw incredible cooperation between science and industry, developed and developing countries, each looking to nanotechnology as the accepted, adopted science most likely to address the most crucial needs facing us all: Clean water. A simple, low-cost approach could save millions who die of malaria and other waterborne diseases. And imagine the quality of life improvement if clean water were readily available anywhere. Cheap, clean energy. We’re all looking for a way to erase our carbon footprint from the environment. However, for so many in the world, the lack of a power source denies them the boon of 21st century technology — light, heat, communications, education. Nano-enabled solar panels, energy cells and other generation solutions are at the forefront of research, with conservation technologies close behind. Clean air. It’s a problem for all of us, but developing nations often suffer disproportionately because they lack environmental technologies. Nanotech could help. Disease control. Nanotechnology could make medicines less costly and easier to use and store. Food purity. Like clean water, a healthier food supply and better preservation techniques could prevent illness and increase life quality and expectancy. Based on conversations with my fellow conference participants, I predict these most pressing problems will be solved by the under-40 age group. Visionary scientists were well-represented in the Young Global Leaders, a group of 245 young executives, public figures and intellectuals from 65 countries recognized by the World Economic Forum for their leadership potential in shaping the future. And the geography represented by attendees? It matched the worldwide geography of the issues. The U.S., Europe, Asia and the other accepted knowledge centers were well represented, of course. However, the circle also included countries you might not expect, nations who see nanotechnology as their chance for progress by leaps and bounds: Palestine, Pakistan, Kenya, Turkey, and Costa Rica are just a few. Universities have developed centers of learning where scientists are creating home-grown nanotech cognoscenti. Financing is going into advanced manufacturing facilities and a work force to operate them. In the years ahead, every corner of the globe will be solving the problems we face and have the cost effective powerhouse manufacturing to make solutions into reality. Yes, change is coming. Nanotechnology is the central theme and catalyst. I hope you believe as I do, that it’s going to make all the difference in the world. Scott E. Rickert is chief executive of Nanofilm, Ltd., located in Valley View, Ohio.

The World of Alpha – Get your Free Alpha mp3

For many years the psychology field assumed it was impossible for a person to drop voluntarily down to alpha and retain conscious thinking control.

Alpha is the state where your brain rhythm tends to “centre” around 10 cycles per second (cps).

It was always assumed that once a person entered alpha (like the daydream state), they would be unable to direct their thoughts and probably fall asleep. This was until Jose Silva demonstrated otherwise. He proved conclusively that people could operate consciously in alpha and retain control of their thinking at the same time. These days there are people who can drop down to a lower level of Theta (3-7cps) – and still maintain conscious control! There are even a handful of people who can drop down to mind-awake-body-asleep in delta!

What is happening at this level is that your conscious and your subconscious mind are operating simultaneously, giving you an increase in mental capacity and opening up your 6th sense.  Women tend to use both brain hemispheres when solving problems which may give them extra intuitive capacity.

It was also discovered that a person could drop to alpha with their eyes open (you do this when you daydream) which offered another major advantage for the business executive.

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And it makes sense …… because mind-power knowledge is an exclusive club!

The whole field of mind-power in the western world is in its infancy. And because it will make a lot of people nervous there will not be too much media education about it. It will creep up on us in the same manner that computers have.

Ignore this emerging field at your own peril!!!

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Nanoparticles Deliver Their Cargo, Then Disappear

Dissolved Nanoparticles (click image for larger version) Undissolved Nanoparticles (click image for larger version)

Medical researchers are looking at any number of new methods to get drugs to specific locations in the body.  Some methods are efficient but less safe, while others are safe but often fail to deliver. Now a nontoxic nanoparticle developed by researchers at Penn State University is proving to be an all-around effective delivery system for both therapeutic drugs and the fluorescent dyes that can track their delivery. In an article appearing in an upcoming print issue of Nano Letters (currently available online), an interdisciplinary group of materials scientists, chemists, bioengineers, physicists, and pharmacologists show that calcium phosphate particles ranging in size from 20 to 50 nanometers will successfully enter cells and dissolve harmlessly, releasing their cargo of drugs or dye.

Measuring the activity of particles this size requires specialized techniques.  Peter Butler, associate professor of bioengineering, and his students used high speed lasers to measure the size of fluorescent dye-containing particles from their diffusion in solution.  “We use a technique called time correlated single photon counting,” Butler says. “This uses pulses of laser light to read the time, on the order of nanoseconds, that molecules fluoresce.”  With this method his group was able to measure the size of the particles and their dispersion in solution, in this case a phosphate-buffered saline that is used as a simple model for blood.

“What we did in this study was to change the original neutral pH of the solution, which is similar to blood, to a more acidic environment, such as around solid tumors and in the parts of the cell that collect the nanoparticles-containing fluid immediately outside the cell membrane and bring it into the cell. When we lower the pH, the acidic environment dissolves the calcium phosphate particle. We can see that the size of the particles gets very small, essentially down to the size of the free dye that was inside the particles. That gives us evidence that this pH change can be used as a mechanism to release any drug that is encapsulated in the particle,” Butler explains.

Although the primary use envisioned for these particles is for targeted cancer therapy, Butler’s group is interested in their ability to deliver various drugs that have been shown to inhibit cell growth associated with vascular disease. Several drugs have been shown in cultures to be promising for reducing atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and restenosis (the narrowing of blood vessels after balloon angioplasty). The problem has been in delivering any of these drugs to a target, Butler says.

Ceramide, a chemotherapeutic molecule that initiates cell death in cancer cells, has the ability to slow growth in healthy cells.  Mark Kester, professor of pharmacology, and associate professor of pharmacology Jong Yun have optimized ceramide for both cancer and vascular disease. In an experiment performed by Kester’s and Yun’s groups in the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine using human vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro, ceramide encapsulated in calcium phosphate nanoparticles reduced growth of muscle cells by up to 80 percent at a dose 25 times lower than ceramide administered freely, without damaging the cells.

The calcium phosphate nanoparticles were developed by Jim Adair, professor of materials science and engineering, and his students. The nanoparticles have several benefits other drug delivery systems do not, according to lead author Thomas Morgan, one of the graduate students in Adair’s group.  Unlike quantum dots, which are composed of toxic metals, calcium phosphate is a safe, naturally occurring mineral that already is present in substantial amounts in the bloodstream. “What distinguishes our method are smaller particles (for uptake into cells), no agglomeration (particles are dispersed evenly in solution), and that we put drugs or dyes inside the particle where they are protected, rather than on the surface. For reasons we don’t yet understand, fluorescent dyes encapsulated within our nanoparticles are four times brighter than free dyes,” Morgan says.

“Drugs and dyes are expensive,” he continues, “but an advantage of encapsulation is that you need much less of them. We can make high concentrations in the lab, and dilute them way down and still be effective. We even believe we can combine drug and dye delivery for simultaneous tracking and treatment.  That’s one of the things we are currently working on.”

Contributors to the article in Nano Letters were graduate students Thomas Morgan, chemistry, Erhan Altinoglu and Amra Tabakovic, materials science and engineering, and former group member, Sara Rouse, Ph.D. in materials; graduate students Hari Muddana and Tristan Tabouillot, bioengineering; graduate student Timothy Russin, physics;  graduate student Sriram Shanmugavelandy, pharmacology; Peter Butler, associate professor of bioengineering; Peter Eklund, distinguished professor of physics and materials science and engineering; Jong Yun, associate professor of pharmacology; Mark Kester, professor of pharmacology; and Jim Adair, professor of materials science and engineering. Support was provided by multiple agencies, including NSF, NASA, Keystone Nano, Inc. and by grants to Peter Butler from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Science Foundation.

The Penn State Materials Research Institute provides facilities and technical staff to support the research of more than 200 faculty groups involved in materials research at Penn State.