Cancer is an uncontrolled growth of cells which divide too quickly in the body. There are different types of cancer depending on their cause. The known cancer treatments that exist today are chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy. Despite the fact that cancer treatments exist nowadays, none of these treatments seem to be as promising as “nanoshells” which have an improvement in sensitivity, specificity and cost effectiveness as compared to those other treatments. Naomi Halas, a professor at Rice University with an Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Chemistry background is known for the invention of “nanoshells”. These nanoshells are tiny spherical nanoparticles which within their structure they contain a dielectric core, one which has either poor electrical conductivity or none at all of silica and a metallic core which is typically gold.
These nanoshells seem to be very promising for therapeutic applications such as that of cancer treatment because of its optical, chemical and physical properties. Because they possess light absorbing properties, these nanoshells may be made to selectively either absorb or scatter light at any wavelength, visible and near-infrared. What is interesting about this is because by tuning nanoshells to absorb infrared radiation, that becomes useful to convert the absorbed radiation into heat which enables to destroy tumors.
Nanoshells are made up of millions of atoms yet they are still bigger than DNA but smaller than a white cell. The body’s immune system ignores these tiny particles which are usually ingested by cancerous cells only because the blood vessels that feed the cancer cells are typically bigger, allowing these nanoparticles to easily enter. This allows us an easier wa...
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Amanda Ellis: I guess you would call it ‘Bio-mimicry’. As you are at a very small scale ‘nano-scale’ which is beyond white blood cells and red blood cells, nanotechnology fools the body that it is a normal material. A lot of studies go looking at biocompatible polymers, which are polymers that are bio compatible in the sense that the body does not find it toxic. There are a lot of people that are working with DNA nanotechnology. An example of Prof. Ellis’s research is delivering cancer drugs through a DNA strand with the use of a nano-scale box. Humans have DNA, which is about 50% different than a banana. As DNA is
Wang, K., Wu, X., & Huang, J. (2013, February 28). Cancer stem cell theory: therapeutic implications for nanomedicine. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3589204/
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Weidner, Krista. "Nanomotors Are Controlled, for the First Time, inside Living Cells." Penn State News. N.p., 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. .
Bioengineering analysis is pointing a new way to better drug designs and better drug testing. The disease of cancer has taken the life of many patients, but through new medicines and procedures many more are surviving. A significant progress has been made against cancer, allowing people to live longer and fuller lives. There have been more than one-million less cancer deaths since 1990and 1991(aacr.org). On January 1, 2012 there were 13.7 million survivors in the United States. These numbers are achieved by using new techniques to cure cancer like, immunotherapies to avoid toxins, Targeted cancer therapies to target different types of cancer, and weakling cancerous tumors making them susceptible to drugs. Cancer is still a significant problem and is far from being cured, but step by step biomedical engineers are getting closer and closer.
This project is focusing on the shape of silver nanoparticles and the aspect ratio of silver nanowires for the control of their absorption spectrum in the visible light to infrared ranges. Synthesis of metal nanoparticles has become increasingly important in science and engineering. Being able to control the processes is vital to success in applications and uncovering the mechanisms of nanoparticle production. Nanowires are one of the varieties of nanoparticles that will be utilized for this project. There are many different metals that can be used to synthesize nanowires, I am focusing on silver. Silver exhibits the highest thermal conductivity out of all metals (Sun, 2001). Silver nanowires with a large aspect ratio also show an absorbance of higher wavelengths then other nanoparticles, like spherical silver nanoparticles (Sun, 2001). Other silver particles that exhibit similar characteristics and show a higher wavelength absorbance will be considered as well. Controlling reaction conditions allow plasmonic, oscillatory quantum motion, colloids to obtain architecturally predictable nanostructures and can be used to understand their optical properties (Motl, 2013). There are many shapes that nanoparticles can take up. Each shape, on the nanoscale shows different properties that can be utilized, such as conductivity, anisotropy, and, what I am interested in, absorbance of light.
Doxorubicin is an anti-cancer agent which should only be affecting cancerous tissues but conventional doxorubicin lacks the ability to differentiate normal from cancerous cells and affects all tissues based on its systemic circulation (2, 4). Liposomal doxorubicin as nanocarriers size within the nano to micro ranges being larger than conventional small drug molecules allows manipulation of a phenomenon called the enhanced penetration and retention (EPR) (2, 4). EPR is a passive targeting effect in which the molecule takes advantage of tumour pathophysiological characteristics that extravasate macromolecules into cancerous tissues while depleting lymphatic drainages to prevent macromolecule clearance as seen Figure 5 (4).
...nessing “the power of nanotechnology” to radically change the way we diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer.” The most likely method implemented will by the use of nanovectors for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs, and then heating nanoparticles that are attached to cancer cells so that the cancer cells explode. (5, 9) There are still many obstacles that must be overcome before this is a reality: from the ethical concern by some that nanobots will take control of the body to the more practical problem that this method of treatment will be very expensive and funding will be an issue. (6) But with millions of people suffering from some form of cancer, scientists are searching for cures and treatments and nanotechnology offers the greatest promise. One day, cancer may be completely curable thanks to nanotechnology which is something everyone would benefit from.
Nanoparticles are defined as particulate materials with at least one dimension of less than 100 nanometers (nm), even the particles could be zero dimension in the case of quantum dots (Bar et al., 2009). Metal nanoparticles have been of great interest due to their distinctive features such as catalytic, optical, magnetic and electrical properties (Rassaei et al., 2008).
Nanotechnology is defined as the science of design, synthesis and characterization of matter at the nanoscale, which mesures one billionth of the meter [1,2] On that scale, structures exhibit novel chemical, physical and biological properties and processes, which enables the creation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), with various characteristics and potential applications. [3] It’s not just that though. Nanotechnology shows the ability to eliminate the gaps among medicine, material engineering and science, computer technology and public policy, creating new clinical and medical approaches to better diagnose, treat and prevent any kind of illness. In fact, it is already moving from simple passive structures
Jain P, El-sayed I, El-sayed M ,( 2007) . Au nanoparticles target cancer. Nano today, 2/1, 20.
He uses gold particles as a diagnostic tool. This method allows for test procedures that are non-invasive and do not involve exposure to radiation. The patient simply gargles with a mixture that includes nanoparticles of gold, which paint the cancer cells. It has been tested on animals, where it has proven to be effective in the detection of various cancers.
contributes to silica nanoparticle-induced cytotoxicity in human embryonic kidney cells. Toxicology in vitro, 23, 808-815. doi: 10.1016/j.tiv.2009.04.009
Design , characterization, production and application of materials devices and systems by controlling shape and size of the nanoscale.
Nanoparticles are defined as the microscopic particles with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. Nanoparticles are of immense scientific interest because of their vast potential applications in biomedicines, computer, electronics, and defense industries. Nanoparticles are of great scientific and technological interests because they can effectively act as bridge between the bulk form and atomic or molecular structures of the materials. Bulk materials possess constant physical and chemical properties regardless their sizes while nano-scaled materials possess varying properties depending on their sizes [Marignier, J.L., Belloni, J., Delcourt, M.O., Chevalier, J.P. Microaggregates of nonnoble metals and bimetallic alloys prepared