Northwestern University Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE)

Northwestern University has been a leader in nanotechnology and is becoming a powerhouse for the propagation of the technology to the clinical market. Many research insitutions are great at discovering new materials, but it is rare that one works so closely with the market to not only innovate but apply new discoveries.

A major reason for Northwestern lies in both its support of nanotechnology research and in the funding its been receiving. Its Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence has just received 11.7 million dollars from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The reason why Northwestern is such a great player in nanotechnology research is that it is not only immersed in just nanotechnology, just medicine, just biology, or just physics and engineering. Instead, it is an integrated research institute. This is so important for nanotechnology research as this field doesn't settle easily into any one classical discipline. Instead, it requires the application of many different expertise.

Northwestern, in particular, claims that its International Institute for Nanotechnology and its Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University will be able to work together to create nanotechnology and then streamline it in-house to clinical research and, eventually, the clinical market.

An image of NanoFlares

Currently, the flagship of Northwestern's research is in its NanoFlare (see image right).  NanoFlares are a "spherical nucleic acids with gold nanoparticle cores outfitted with single-stranded DNA “flares.”". The NanoFlares expand upon nucleic-acid based Nano-constructs called Spherical Nucleic Acids (SNAs) which are non-toxic to humans and can serve in the delivery of cancer drugs. What makes the NanoFlares unique is the DNA-flare on the outside of the sphere. It allows the SNA to locate and bind to cancerous cells in the blood stream even before any tumor forms. Then, a drug can be released to destroy the harmful cells.

This research is not only important in the fight against cancer but is a clear demonstration in academia embracing nanotechnology and seeking ways to maximize its impact.
To read more about the grant and Northwestern's research, click here!
To read more about this research, click here!
To read more about the International Institute for nanotechnology, click here!

Superfast fluorescence sets new speed record

The device you are currently sitting on, whether it be a phone, a tablet, or a laptop, is at its core made of a tiny switches that are turned on and off by electrons at extremely high rates. These 'on' and 'off' states are what occur when you look at the base of a code and see a 1 - on - or a 2 - off. As technology improves, however, we are reaching the limit of how fast these switches can be turned on and off - that is, the passage of electrons through wires is no longer fast enough. Currently, we solve this in personal laptops by making the switches smaller and adding more of them. In supercomputers, we cool the computers down and use rare metals to create superconductors; thus decreasing the resistance of the wire for the electrons and increasing the electrons velocity.

This sort of improvement, however, is finite and innovation is needed. Although one up-and-coming and viable option is quantum computers (discussed in other blog posts) another is to change the medium through which we manipulate the switches. This is to say, replace electrons with something that moves even faster: Photons.

This, unsurprisingly, has certain barriers to overcome before it can become a reality. Optical computing, fortunately, has come one step closer to reality with an innovation made by the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. There, researchers have created a light source that can switch on-and-off 90 billion times per second using plasmonics. Plasmonics occur "When a laser shines on the surface of a silver cube just 75 nanometers wide... [then] the free electrons on its surface begin to oscillate together in a wave. These oscillations create their own light, which reacts again with the free electrons. Energy trapped on the surface of the nanocube in this fashion is called a plasmon."

After thus exciting the silver nanocube, the electromagnetic field created  reacts with two layers that are nearby: a gold sheet ~20Agstom away and a quantum dot layer that is placed between the silver nanocube and the gold sheet. The quantum dots in this middle layer emit light that can be turned on and off 90 billion times a second.

Clearly, this is an innovation that will be of service to even the average consumer. It is yet another example of how influential and important nanotechnologies will be in our future.
To learn more, click here!

NanoViricide

Pesticides, it seems, is part of our everyday lives as we try to kill that buzzing mosquito in the corner of the room. However, it is also a technology that has been able to increase crop yield and feed millions of people by eliminating insects that eat or infect crops. Similarly, Nanoviricide is a company that is trying to create the equivalent result against viruses.

To understand their technology, it is important to first understand the structure of a virus. As seen in the diagram to the right, a virus is primarily made up of three components: The Genetic Material, the Membrane Envelope, and the Ligands. The first of these three is stored on the inside of the virus. Once the virus attaches to the cell, the DNA or RNA enters the cell and eventually takes over the cell's machinery. Thereafter, instead of producing normal proteins needed for cell function, the cell produces copies of the virus until the cell no longer has enough nutrients to live and dies. The second of these, the membrane, protects the genetic information when the virus is not in a cell. The last is what NanoViricide attempts to take advantage of:

Simply put, the ligands on the virus are made such that they bind with the surface of the cell. NanoViricide thus creates a delivery capsule that mimics the virus's corresponding ligand, causing the virus to attach to the NanoViricide. Once this is done, the Virus can be easily killed.

The company has used its technology to help fight viruses such as HIV, Influenza and Bird Flu and shows an important use of nanotechnology in medicine.
To learn more about NanoViricide, click here!
To learn about the entry of the virus into the cell, click here!

Northwestern's induction into the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology

Through all its benefits, the community at large is making sure that new innovations through nanotechnology do not hurt the environment. To this extent, the NSF provides $20 million (renewable) to centers of research that research the effect of nanotechnologies. The funding is provided to the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, who very recently has inducted Northwestern University into its group of institutions.

Some of the big questions they're asking include:

How is this going to impact bacteria and other organisms in the environment?

What do these particles do?

How do they interact with organisms?”

The goal is to create nanotechnologies that will not hurt the environment in the first place so that later recalls due to environmental hazards won't be necessary. To this end, there is both an environmental and an economic motivation to ensure that we have the knowledge on the impacts of nanotechnologies. It is part of a movement for our society's businesses and corporations to be more environmentally friendly.

To read more about Northwestern's induction into the society, click here!
To read more about the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, click here!