Nanotechnology in Dermatology
Sunday, September 19th, 2010
Nanotechnology is a ubiquitous technology that has applications in a wide range of areas. Medicine is one of these areas and dermatologists are also exploring the potential of this technology to treat skin problems and diseases. For example, the Nanodermatology Society says that “a vast number of patents have been issued for nanotechnology as a means of enhancing topical delivery of a broad range of cosmetics and cutaneous therapeutics.”
The Nanodermatology Society (NDS) was formed this year. It is a nonprofit organization that seeks to “promote and enable a greater understanding of the scientific and medical aspects of nanotechnology in health and disease.” It will monitor developments in nanotechnology as they relate to dermatology, facilitate exchange of information about the developments, sponsor research and develop policies that benefit consumers and industry, among others.
“Nanotechnology represents a novel medium through which the diagnosis and treatment of disease may be forever altered. The skin represents a phenomenal vehicle through which these materials can be investigated, both with respect to active ingredient delivery and efficacy. Advances in nanotechnology must be balanced with due consideration of potential toxicity,” comments Dr. Adnan Nasir, assistant clinical professor of dermatology, University of North Carolina, and President of the NDS.
Read the news report at AzoNano.com.
Tags: dermatology, nanomedicine, nanotechnology
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Fuel Cells: Significance and Markets
Monday, September 13th, 2010
Fuel cells can theoretically provide energy for everything from running a power plant to running your computer. And they provide it with high efficiency, low emissions and quietly, with the byproducts being heat and water, not carbon dioxide. It is no wonder that governments, businesses and academic institutions are working towards producing this green source of energy.
In essence, a fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to make water, and generates electricity in the process. And unlike a battery, the chemicals needed for a fuel cell, viz. hydrogen and oxygen, do not get exhausted all that easily. What this means is that the fuel cell is not likely to go dead, unlike the battery.
Fuel cell technologies come in different varieties such as PEMFC, SOFC, AFC, MCFC, PAFC and DMFC. Some are more suited for one purpose while others are best in other contexts, such as transportation systems, large power plants and stationary power generators.
Honda’s concept car based on fuel cells has a reported energy efficiency of 60 percent, i.e. 60 percent of the energy that goes in comes out in the form of moving the car. Compare this to the 20 percent efficiency of the fossil fuel burning car, where most of the energy is wasted as heat and for powering incidentals.
Though a battery-powered electric car has an efficiency of 72 percent, the battery has to be charged using AC power, which has a low efficiency, and the charging process itself causes some loss of efficiency. Compared to the 60 percent overall efficiency of the fuel cell, the net battery efficiency is just 26 percent.(See How Fuel Cells Work).
The research report Fuel Cell Technologies Worldwide provides insights into the end user markets for fuel cells and also the various technologies used for making fuel cells.
Tags: energy efficiency, fuel cell technology, green energy, nanotechnology
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Targeted Drug Delivery that Minimizes Side Effects
Friday, September 10th, 2010
Drugs delivered orally or through intravascular injection are distributed throughout the body and only a small portion reaches the desired organ. Targeted drug delivery seeks to release the drug only in that part of the body where it is needed, at least in greater concentrations there than other parts. Not only has this the result of increasing treatment efficacy but it also reduces the side effects of the drug affecting healthy cells.
Targeted drug delivery is particularly important in treating cancerous tumors though it is also used for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Some of the traditional methods used for targeted drug delivery are effective but not safe, while others are safe but ineffective.
A recent report suggests that researchers at Mayo Clinic might have found a way to deliver drugs on target safely and effectively. They visualize calcium phosphate nanoparticles carrying a cargo of drugs along the bloodstream. Cells around tumors have an acidic environment and the calcium phosphate particles will be dissolved by the acid and the drugs released. What this means is that the drug reaches the diseased cells without being distributed all through the body.
The Mayo Clinic researchers used a dye as the cargo and used high speed lasers to measure the size of the dye-containing particles in a blood-like solution. They found that an acidic environment reduced the size of the particles to practically the size of the dye, indicating that the particles themselves have been dissolved.
Read the news at Science Centric.
Tags: cancer treatment, nanomedicine, nanotechnology, targeted drug delivery
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Nanotechnology Opens new Career and Investment Opportunities
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
Nanotechnology works with molecular structures of less than 100 nanometers (one nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). It can modify the molecular structures of materials, resulting in changed properties, and even create new materials. We can thus produce self-cleaning surfaces, faster electronic microprocessors, superior water-filtration systems and more.
But nanotechnology is not a science by itself unlike, say physics, biology or chemistry. Instead, it can work in all these fields with the essential requirement being the ability to work at nanoscale. Working at nanoscale involves advanced and high-precision equipment, such as scanning probe microscopes with probes that can work with materials invisible to the naked eye.
Nanotechnology research needs researchers with a sound basic training in sciences, engineering and medicine, and with the additional skill to work at nanoscale. Nanotechnology is also an interdisciplinary field combining the disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology. Nanotechnology courses will thus have to ensure that trainees have the needed fundamental training in one of the sciences.
Considering the potential of nanotechnology to create products tailored to our expectations, it is a huge investment area. Investors are interested in tangible products and are more likely to be interested in nano-manufacturing than just nano-science as such.
Read about the job potential of nanotechnology at Atlanta Post.
Tags: education, nanotech applications, nanotechnology, scanning probe microscope
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Planes that Mimic Birds
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Planes that Mimic Birds
Aerospace vehicles are currently designed for specific missions, such as space flight, reconnaissance, interdiction and aerial combat. A vehicle designed for one mission will typically have serious constraints for executing other missions. Researchers have been looking at ways to design multi-mission capable vehicles.
The solution of variable sweep wings is an example of a preliminary solution to the problem. The wings change shape to meet changing requirements, trying to mimic birds in flight. However, the existing solution is only a primitive one compared to the birds’ solution.
Things might change dramatically with the new morphing metal technology. Nanotechnology can theoretically work at molecular levels and change the properties of the building blocks of materials. Doing this “on-the-go”, adapting to changes in pressure or temperature for example, can make the materials almost “living materials.”
Wings made of such materials could then unfurl, bend and shape themselves to changing demands, just as bird wings do in flight. Such wings will be able to avoid aerodynamic destabilization caused by varying flight conditions.
Once such morphing technology has been mastered, it will be possible to design air vehicles that can be used for multiple roles, say from passenger or cargo carriage to aerial warfare.
Read the speculative report at Center for Intelligence News Study.
Tags: air vehicles, changing material properties, nanotechnology
Posted in nanomaterials, nanotechnology | 1 Comment »
Breakthrough in Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM)
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Scanning Probe Microscopy creates images with the help of a physical probe that scans the specimen surface. As the probe scans the specimen line by line, the position of the probe is recorded to create the image. SPM helps study invisible specimens such as individual atoms and objects of nanometer scale.
Conventional SPM operates at only one frequency at a time. This is a serious limitation because probe-specimen surface interactions are dynamic and only by knowing how the interaction varies at many frequencies can one get a fuller picture.
A breakthrough has now been achieved by Asylum Research and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in this area. Band Excitation (BE) is a new SPM technology that involves exciting and detecting the tip dynamics at many frequencies simultaneously. This has been compared to seeing in color instead of just in black and white.
Band Excitation allows more rapid probing of energy dissipation at nanoscale “enabling scientists to characterize a sample’s electrical, magnetic, and mechanical energy conversion and dissipation properties at standard imaging rates.” Information about energy dissipation is important in diverse fields such as electronics, information technology and energy storage/transport.
The inventors hope that BE will bring in a new family of SPMs.
Asylum Research and ORNL has been awarded the Microscopy Today Innovation Award for the breakthrough. Read the news at Nanowerk.
Tags: nanotechnology, scanning at multiple frequencies, SPM
Posted in electron microscopy, nanotechnology | 1 Comment »
Nanotechnology – Considerations for Safe Development
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
Office of Technical Assistance & Technology, Massachusetts Government, has released a document with the above title. As the preamble of the document says, Nanotechnology offers great promise in different industries such as biomedical devices, clean energy technology and materials engineering. Along with the promise come indications that the invisibly small nanoparticles, both incidental and engineered, can cause harm to living beings.
The particles can cause respiratory ailments through inhalation, get absorbed into the bloodstream and even pass the blood-brain barrier with potential harm to neurological system. DNA damage has been reported from exposure to titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The overall conclusion from health and safety research is that material risks may accompany the development of nanotechnologies.
It is in this context that precautionary steps during research and development become important. This has become particularly critical as billions of dollars are being invested in nanotechnology development in US alone (not to mention many other countries across the world). Focusing only on the promise and ignoring the potential for harm that these initiatives pose are things that no responsible government or entity can allow.
Studies have indicated that while many companies have implemented nanosafety practices, several others have not. It is thus necessary to create greater awareness about the issue among managers, supervisors and health & safety officers.
You can download the nanotechnology safety considerations document from Massachusetts Government website.
Tags: engineered materials, nanoparticles, nanotech health issues, nanotechnology
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NanoImprint Technology for new Applications: A Singapore Project
Monday, August 9th, 2010
Nanolithography involves making nanoscale structures, i.e. patterns with lateral surfaces of size ranging from atomic to 100 nanometers (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). The process is used for fabricating semiconductor integrated circuits and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). Nanoimprint Technology (NIT) introduced during 1990s is low cost compared to optical lithography, and provides high resolution structures.
NIT is now attracting industries other than chip making. Optical components, biomedical devices and consumer products, for example, can benefit significantly from this technology. Non-slip materials, anti-bacterial and waterproof coatings, intricately patterned and colorful surfaces and adhesives that do not leave a sticky residue are some of the consumer applications that industries foresee.
Nanotechnology can produce the kinds of results mentioned above without using eco-unfriendly chemicals and coatings. The process will, instead, involve engineering the properties of the materials at molecular levels. Surfaces that resemble lotus flowers can thus be engineered, for example, recreating both its beauty and waterproof property.
Responding to such increasing demand, the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and Institute of High Performance Computing is joining Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB), International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and SPRING Singapore is launching an Industrial Consortium On Nanoimprint (ICON). ICON will be starting with two projects, one for an anti-reflection and the other for an anti-bacterial surface.
Read the news at Nanotech-Now.
Tags: nanoimprinting, nanomaterials, nanotechnology, tailor made surfaces
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Nanoparticles: What are the Risks?
Saturday, August 7th, 2010
Do you know that we could be breathing in four billion nanoparticles per minute? And be none the worse for it? There are numerous sources of such particles in everyday living, and our lungs have learned to cope with these and we continue to live (and prosper).
Does that mean that nanoparticles, natural and engineered, are absolutely safe? Hardly. Asbestos fiber has caused deaths in hundreds of thousands. Even the London smog has caused deaths estimated at a few thousands in one year. Apparently, the capacity of our lungs to tolerate air-borne particles is limited.
There is also the fact that unlike naturally occurring particles, to which our lungs have become accustomed over a long period, engineered nanoparticles are something new which our lungs have no experience of. Just like engineered chemicals, our body might not be all that ready to deal with the new particles.
Dosages can also matter. A single nanoparticle, even if somewhat dangerous, might not have any impact on our health. Even a billion nanoparticles do not amount to much in terms of substance. However, when the substantial content of the nanoparticles absorbed increase, even otherwise harmless particles might become toxic.
These and other interesting thoughts are the content of a recent post at 2020science.org.
Tags: health risks, nanoparticles, nanotechnology
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A Comprehensive Look at Nanotechnology
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
EmeraldInsight produces the Foresight journal. In issue 6 of volume 6 of the journal, there is a conceptual paper that takes a comprehensive look at nanotechnology, tagged as the technology of the twenty first century.
Did you know that nanotechnology is a convergence of physics, chemistry and biology? It has already developed applications in all these fields, e.g. microelectronics (physics) that can lead to extremely small computing devices; new catalysts, membranes, sensors and coatings (chemistry) that involve tailoring atoms and molecules to customized needs; and working with micro and nano sized sub-units of living systems (biology) to create new devices.
The interdisciplinary nature of nanotechnology poses problems to researchers and changing traditional researcher mindsets is considered a significant issue in nanotech research. Nanotech researchers typically need interdisciplinary skills.
The innovative applications potential of this new technology can be illustrated with a few examples. In biotechnology, nano-sized enzymes, which are living organisms, can be combined with inorganic devices such as silicon chips to produce an implantable device that can monitor the health of the organism, human or animal. Quantum computers using quantum dots (a nanostructure) can provide a solution to the physical limitation of miniaturization of chips.
Read about these and other potential applications of nanotechnology at Emerald Insight Nanotechnology Concept Paper.
Tags: interdisciplinary technology, nanotech applications, nanotechnology
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