Intersection Of Nanotechnology Research Articles

Nanotechnology intervention of the microbiome for cancer therapy.

The microbiome is emerging as a key player and driver of cancer. Traditional modalities to manipulate the microbiome (for example, antibiotics, probiotics and microbiota transplants) have been shown to improve efficacy of cancer therapies in some cases, but issues such as collateral damage to the commensal microbiota and consistency of these approaches motivates efforts towards developing new technologies specifically designed for the microbiome-cancer interface. Considering the success of nanotechnology in transforming cancer diagnostics and treatment, nanotechnologies capable of manipulating interactions that occur across microscopic and molecular length scales in the microbiome and the tumour microenvironment have the potential to provide innovative strategies for cancer treatment. As such, opportunities at the intersection of nanotechnology, the microbiome and cancer are massive. In this Review, we highlight key opportunistic areas for applying nanotechnologies towards manipulating the microbiome for the treatment of cancer, give an overview of seminal work and discuss future challenges and our perspective on this emerging area.

Nanocombinatorics with Cantilever-Free Scanning Probe Arrays.

The effectiveness of combinatorial experiments is determined by the rate at which distinct experimental conditions can be prepared and interrogated. This has been particularly limiting at the intersection of nanotechnology and soft materials research, where structures are difficult to reliably prepare and materials are incompatible with conventional lithographic techniques. For example, studying nanoparticle-based heterogeneous catalysis or the interaction between biological cells and abiotic surfaces requires precise tuning of materials composition on the nanometer scale. Scanning probe techniques are poised to be major players in the combinatorial nanoscience arena because they allow one to directly deposit materials at high resolution without any harsh processing steps that limit material compatibility. The chief limitation of scanning probe techniques is throughput, as patterning with single probes is prohibitively slow in the context of large-scale combinatorial experiments. A recent paradigm shift circumvents this problem by fundamentally altering the architecture of scanning probes by replacing the conventionally used cantilever with a soft compliant film on a rigid substrate, a substitution that allows a densely packed array of probes to function in parallel in an inexpensive format. This is a major lithographic advance in terms of scalability, throughput, and versatility that, when combined with the development of approaches to actuate individual probes in cantilever-free arrays, sets the stage for scanning-probe-based tools to address scientific questions through nanocombinatorial studies in biology and materials science. In this review, we outline the development of cantilever-free scanning probe lithography and prospects for nanocombinatorial studies enabled by these tools.

Atomic Layer Deposition for Energy and Environmental Applications

Atomic Layer Deposition for Energy and Environmental Applications

Nanodiamonds: The intersection of nanotechnology, drug development, and personalized medicine

The implementation of nanomedicine in cellular, preclinical, and clinical studies has led to exciting advances ranging from fundamental to translational, particularly in the field of cancer. Many of the current barriers in cancer treatment are being successfully addressed using nanotechnology-modified compounds. These barriers include drug resistance leading to suboptimal intratumoral retention, poor circulation times resulting in decreased efficacy, and off-target toxicity, among others. The first clinical nanomedicine advances to overcome these issues were based on monotherapy, where small-molecule and nucleic acid delivery demonstrated substantial improvements over unmodified drug administration. Recent preclinical studies have shown that combination nanotherapies, composed of either multiple classes of nanomaterials or a single nanoplatform functionalized with several therapeutic agents, can image and treat tumors with improved efficacy over single-compound delivery. Among the many promising nanomaterials that are being developed, nanodiamonds have received increasing attention because of the unique chemical-mechanical properties on their faceted surfaces. More recently, nanodiamond-based drug delivery has been included in the rational and systematic design of optimal therapeutic combinations using an implicitly de-risked drug development platform technology, termed Phenotypic Personalized Medicine-Drug Development (PPM-DD). The application of PPM-DD to rapidly identify globally optimized drug combinations successfully addressed a pervasive challenge confronting all aspects of drug development, both nano and non-nano. This review will examine various nanomaterials and the use of PPM-DD to optimize the efficacy and safety of current and future cancer treatment. How this platform can accelerate combinatorial nanomedicine and the broader pharmaceutical industry toward unprecedented clinical impact will also be discussed.

A Statistical–Physical Model of Interference in Diffusion-Based Molecular Nanonetworks

Molecular nanonetworks stand at the intersection of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and network engineering. The research on molecular nanonetworks proposes the interconnection of nanomachines through molecule exchange. Amongst different solutions for the transport of molecules between nanomachines, the most general is based on free diffusion. The objective of this paper is to provide a statistical–physical modeling of the interference when multiple transmitting nanomachines emit molecules simultaneously. This modeling stems from the same assumptions used in interference study for radio communications, namely, a spatial Poisson distribution of transmitters having independent and identically distributed emissions, while the specific molecule emissions model is in agreement with a chemical description of the transmitters. As a result of the property of the received molecular signal of being a stationary Gaussian Process (GP), the statistical–physical modeling is operated on its Power Spectral Density (PSD), for which it is possible to obtain an analytical expression of the log-characteristic function. This expression leads to the estimation of the received PSD probability distribution, which provides a complete model of the interference in diffusion-based molecular nanonetworks. Numerical results in terms of received PSD probability distribution and probability of interference are presented to compare the proposed statistical–physical model with the outcomes of simulations.

‘So long, Janis’ and ‘Welcome, Almut’

When Janis Weeks joined the team of JEB Editors in 2005, the journal was a very different place: Hans Hoppeler had been the Editor in Chief for less than a year, the average number of annual submissions was less than 900 and the journal had only six Monitoring Editors. Since then, Weeks has been an

Principles and Methods for Nanomechatronics: Signaling, Structure, and Functions Toward Nanorobots

Nanomechatronics is a new emerging field at the intersection of nanotechnology and mechatronics. In this paper, control methods for nanomechatronic systems with respect to signaling, structure, and functions are reviewed, where control techniques that have been applied to nanobiosystems are presented. As an important example of nanomechatronic systems, molecular motors are discussed in terms of informatics and biophysics, respectively. A computational biological study on signaling pathways for the control of molecular motors in neurons is given to demonstrate a controller structure for nanomechatronics. As an extreme control method for living cells, a genome-level synthetic biotechnology is summarized. On the perspective of nanomechatronics, key factors of moleware robotics are examined toward the innovation of new nanorobots, which is one of the most promising applications of nanomechatronics in the new millennium.

Diffusion-based physical channel identification in molecular nanonetworks

Nanonetworking is an emerging field of research at the intersection of nanotechnology and communication networks. Molecular Communication (MC) is a bio-inspired paradigm, where nanonetworks, i.e., the interconnection of nanodevices, are implemented based on the exchange of molecules. Within this paradigm, one of the most promising techniques is diffusion-based MC, which relies on free diffusion to transport the molecules from a transmitter to a receiver. In this work, we explore the main characteristics of diffusion-based MC through the use of N3Sim, a physical simulation framework for MC which allows the simulation of the physics underlying the diffusion of molecules in different scenarios. Through the results obtained with N3Sim, the Linear Time Invariant (LTI) property is proven to be a valid assumption for the normal diffusion-based MC scenario. Moreover, diffusion-based noise is observed and evaluated with reference to existing stochastic models. Furthermore, the optimal pulse shape for diffusion-based MC is found to be a narrow spike. Finally, four different pulse-based coding techniques are compared in terms of the available bandwidth, ISI and energy consumption for communication; On–Off Keying is found to be the most suitable scheme in the evaluated scenario.

Nanotechnology controlled drug delivery for treating bone diseases

Rapid developments at the intersection of nanotechnology and controlled drug delivery have triggered exceptional growth in treating various bone diseases. As a result, over the past decade, nanotechnology has contributed tremendously to controlling drug delivery for treating various bone diseases, and in many cases, has led to increased bone regeneration. In this review paper, the recent experimental progress towards using nanotechnology to treat bone-specific diseases is reviewed. Novel applications of different types of nanomaterials (from nanoparticles to 3D nanostructured scaffolds) for treating bone diseases are summarized. In addition, fundamental principles for utilizing nanomaterials to create better drug delivery systems, especially for treating bone diseases and regenerating bone, are emphasized.

Welcome to the international journey to improving human health

It is with great excitement that I welcome you to the International Journal of Nanomedicine (IJN). This new journal has been launched to bring you the latest, exciting, up-to-date research conducted at the intersection of nanotechnology and medicine. As you will see in this issue alone, researchers from around the world are actively pursuing numerous efforts to improve human health through nanotechnology; it is truly an international effort! A recent survey found that governmental nanotechnology programs were funding research worldwide up to an estimated US$5 billion (€3 billion) in 2004 alone (Wagner V and Zweck A 2005 September 30, pers comm). Three countries in particular, the US, Germany, and Japan, have recently given clear commitments to nanomedicine by establishing focused nanomedicine research funding programs. These trends will only increase as the global interest in nanomedicine is only in its infancy. In fact, the projected nanotechnology business market to enhance medical products is expected to be about US$25 billion (or €15 billion) in 2012 (Wagner V and Zweck A 2005 September 30, pers comm).