Biomaterials
Study: Popular drug-carrying nanoparticles get trapped in bloodstream
February 6, 2013 12:05 pm | News | Comments
Many medically minded researchers are in hot pursuit of designs that will allow drug-carrying nanoparticles to navigate tissues and the interiors of cells, but University of Michigan engineers have discovered that these particles have another hurdle to overcome: escaping the bloodstream. According to their work, the immune system can't get rid of some of the promising drug carriers quickly.
Surgeons implant bioengineered vein
June 6, 2013 2:19 pm | News | Comments
In a first-of-its-kind operation in the United States, a team of doctors at Duke...
Bovine blood keeps gold nanoparticles stable
May 14, 2013 10:35 am | News | Comments
According to recent research at Rice University, bovine serum albumin (BSA) forms a protein “...
Microgravity nanomedicine experiment may go to Space Station
May 14, 2013 10:00 am | News | Comments
Nearly all drugs taken orally spike in concentration, decay quickly, and are only at...
Printing artificial bone
June 17, 2013 10:23 am | by Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering | News | CommentsResearchers working to design new materials that are durable, lightweight and environmentally sustainable are increasingly looking to bone for inspiration. While researchers have come up with hierarchical structures in the design of new materials, going from a computer model to the production of physical artifacts has been a persistent challenge. Now researchers have developed an approach that allows them to turn their designs into reality.
Human scabs serve as inspiration for new bandage
May 29, 2013 10:34 am | News | CommentsHuman scabs have become the model for development of an advanced wound dressing material that shows promise for speeding the healing process, scientists are reporting. The team explains that scabs are a perfect natural dressing material for wounds. In addition to preventing further bleeding, scabs protect against infection and recruit the new cells needed for healing.
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
May 14, 2013 12:24 pm | News | CommentsIt’s a familiar scenario—a patient receives a medical implant and days later, the body attacks the artificial valve or device, causing complications to an already compromised system. Expensive medical devices and surgeries often are thwarted by the body’s natural response to attack something in the tissue that appears foreign. Now, University of Washington engineers have demonstrated in mice a way to prevent this sort of response.
Building protocells from inorganic nanoparticles
May 10, 2013 1:05 pm | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K. have led a new enquiry into how extremely small particles of silica (sand) can be used to design and construct artificial protocells in the laboratory. By attaching a thin polymer layer to the external surface of an artificial inorganic protocell built from silica nanoparticles, the scientists have potentially the problem of controlling membrane permeability.
Biomaterial shows promise for Type 1 diabetes treatment
May 8, 2013 3:13 pm | News | CommentsResearchers have made a significant first step with newly engineered biomaterials for cell transplantation that could help lead to a possible cure for Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 3 million Americans. Georgia Institute of Technology engineers and Emory University clinicians have successfully engrafted insulin-producing cells into a diabetic mouse model, reversing diabetic symptoms in the animal in as little as 10 days.
Engineers build living patch for damaged hearts
May 7, 2013 7:56 am | News | CommentsDuke University biomedical engineers have grown 3D human heart muscle that acts just like natural tissue. This advancement could be important in serving as a platform for testing new heart disease medicines. The “heart patch” grown in the laboratory from human cells overcomes two major obstacles facing cell-based therapies—the patch conducts electricity at about the same speed as natural heart cells and it “squeezes” appropriately.
Zinc: The perfect material for bioabsorbable stents?
May 1, 2013 9:49 am | by Marcia Goodrich, Michigan Technological University | News | CommentsIn 2012, more than 3 million people had stents inserted in their coronary arteries. But the longer a stent is in the body, the greater the risk of late-stage side effects. Studies have investigated iron- and magnesium-based bioabsorbable stents, but iron rusts and magnesium dissolves too fast. Recent research shows that a certain type of zinc alloy might be the answer.
Material loss protects teeth against fatigue failure
May 1, 2013 9:07 am | News | CommentsComputer simulations conducted in Germany have shown that the reduction of natural dental wear might be the main cause for widely spread non-carius cervical lesions—the loss of enamel and dentine at the base of the crown—in our teeth. The discovery was made by examining the biomechanical behavior of teeth using finite element analysis methods typically applied to engineering problems.
Antibacterial hydrogel offers protection from stubborn infections
April 24, 2013 5:00 pm | News | CommentsCoating medical supplies with an antimicrobial material is one approach that bioengineers are using to combat the increasing spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. A research team in Singapore has now developed a highly effective antimicrobial coating based on cationic polymers. The coating can be applied to medical equipment, such as catheters.
GUMBOS technology promises new drugs, electronic devices
April 10, 2013 1:06 pm | News | CommentsMention a breakthrough involving "gumbo" technology in this city, and people think of a new twist on The Local Dish, the stew that's the quintessence of southern Louisiana cooking. But scientific presentations at a meeting of the world's largest scientific society this week are focusing on what may be an advance in developing GUMBOS-based materials with far-reaching medical, electronic and other uses.
Scientists develop biomaterial that mimics squid beak
April 3, 2013 11:05 am | News | CommentsResearchers led by scientists at Case Western Reserve University have turned to an unlikely model to make medical devices safer and more comfortable—a squid's beak. Many medical implants require hard materials that have to connect to or pass through soft body tissue. This mechanical mismatch leads to problems such as skin breakdown at abdominal feeding tubes in stroke patients and where wires pass through the chest to power assistive heart pumps. Enter the squid.
Scientists create flexible mineral inspired by deep-sea sponges
March 15, 2013 11:10 am | News | CommentsImitating the structural elements found in most sea sponges, researchers in Germany have created a new synthetic hybrid material that is extremely flexible yet has a mineral content of almost 90%. They recreated the sponge’s spicules using natural calcium carbonate and integrated a protein of the sponge. The invention is even more flexible than its natural counterpart.
Scientists use DNA to create nano-encrypted Morse code
March 12, 2013 3:17 pm | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have devised a dynamic and reversible way to assemble nanoscale structures and have used it to encrypt a Morse code message. The team started with a template of DNA origami―multiple strands of DNA woven into a tile. They “wrote” their message in the DNA template by attaching biotin-bound DNA strands to specific locations on the tiles that would light up as dots or dashes.
Nanodiamonds being perfected for use in biomedical applications
March 4, 2013 8:29 am | News | CommentsScientists in Australia are perfecting a technique that may help see nanodiamonds used in biomedical applications. They have been processing the raw diamonds so that they might be used as a tag for biological molecules and as a probe for single-molecule interactions. With the help of an international team, these diamonds have recently been optically trapped and manipulated in three dimensions—the first time this has been achieved.
Nanogels offer new way to attack lupus
March 1, 2013 3:22 pm | by Eric Gershon, Yale University | News | CommentsIn systemic lupus erythematosus, the body attacks itself for largely mysterious reasons, leading to serious tissue inflammation and organ damage. Current drug treatments address symptoms only and can require life-long daily use at toxic doses. Now, scientists at Yale University have designed and tested a drug delivery system that uses biodegradable nanoparticles to deliver low drug doses. The method shows early promise for improved treatment of lupus and other chronic, uncured autoimmune diseases.
How do bacteria clog medical devices? Very quickly.
March 1, 2013 2:46 pm | News | CommentsA new study has examined how bacteria clog medical devices, and the result isn’t pretty. The microbes join to create slimey ribbons that tangle and trap other passing bacteria, creating a full blockage in a startlingly short period of time. The finding could help shape strategies for preventing clogging of devices such as stents and water filters
Team develops trackable drug-filled nanoparticles
March 1, 2013 8:35 am | News | CommentsMany researchers have been investigating the potential of tiny particles filled with drugs to treat cancer. A team of scientists in Sweden have recently made an advance in this area of research by developing “theranostic” nanoparticles, which combine therapy and diagnostics in the same nanomaterial. They are trackable through magnetic resonance.
Scientists engineer bacterial live wires
February 28, 2013 1:09 pm | News | CommentsJust like electronics, living cells use electrons for energy and information transfer. But cell membranes have thus far prevented us from “plugging” in cells to our computers. To get around this barrier that tightly controls charge balance, a research group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Molecular Foundry has engineered <em>E. coli</em> as a testbed for cellular-electrode communication. They have now demonstrated that these bacterial strains can generate measurable current at an anode.
Adhesion system of fish studied to create bio-inspired adhesive
February 21, 2013 8:18 am | News | CommentsA new study provides details of the structure and tissue properties of the remora fish's unique adhesion system. The researchers plan to use this information to create an engineered reversible adhesive inspired by the remora that could be used to create pain- and residue-free bandages, attach sensors to objects in aquatic or military reconnaissance environments, replace surgical clamps, and help robots climb.
Researchers coat spinal polymer implants with bioactive film
February 19, 2013 9:29 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have, for the first time, successfully coated polymer implants with a bioactive film. The discovery should improve the success rate of such implants. The polymer used in these implants, called PEEK, does not bond well with bone or other tissues in the body. This can result in the implant rubbing against surrounding tissues, which can lead to medical complications and the need for additional surgeries.
Pathway found for membrane building blocks
January 30, 2013 8:55 am | News | CommentsBiomembranes consist of a mosaic of individual, densely packed lipid molecules. These molecules are formed inside the cells. But how do these building blocks move to the correct part of the membrane? Researchers in Germany have discovered the bilayer structural mechanism that demonstrates how this is done.
Bioinspired fibers change color when stretched
January 28, 2013 4:31 pm | News | CommentsA team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter have invented a new fiber that changes color when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated the unique structural elements that create the bright iridescent blue color of a tropical plant's fruit.
Magnetic nanovehicles control, target drug release in the body
January 28, 2013 10:57 am | News | CommentsResearchers in Switzerland have designed tiny vessels that are capable of releasing active agents in the body. These “nanovehicles” are made from a liposome just 100 to 200 nm in diameter. By attaching magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to the surface, scientists are able to target the vessel, heating it up to release the drug.
Scientists unravel the mysteries of spider silk
January 28, 2013 8:22 am | News | CommentsScientists at Arizona State University are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin—weight for weight—at least five times as strong as piano wire. They have found a way to obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk of several intact spiders' webs using a sophisticated but non–invasive laser light scattering technique.
New antimicrobial hydrogels fight superbugs and drug-resistant biofilms
January 24, 2013 8:20 am | News | CommentsBacterial biofilms, which diseased groupings of cells found in 80% of infections, are a significant health hazard and one of the biggest headaches for hospitals and their constant battle against disease. Researchers from IBM, with the help of scientists in Singapore, revealed today a synthetic antimicrobial hydrogel that can break through diseased biofilms and completely eradicate drug-resistant bacteria upon contact. It is the first hydrogel to be biodegradable, biocompatible, and non-toxic.
