ITHACA, N.Y. -- Detecting bacteria, viruses and other dangerous substances in hospitals, airplanes and other commonly contaminated places could soon be as easy as wiping a napkin or paper towel across a surface, says a researcher from Cornell University.

"It's very inexpensive, it wouldn't require that someone be highly trained to use it, and it could be activated for whatever you want to find," said Margaret Frey, the Lois and Mel Tukman Assistant Professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Design at Cornell. "So if you're working in a meat-packing plant, for instance, you could swipe it across some hamburger and quickly and easily detect E. coli bacteria." She reported on the research at the American Chemical Society's national meeting today (Sept. 11) in San Francisco.

Once fully developed, the biodegradable absorbent wipe would contain nanofibers containing antibodies to numerous biohazards and chemicals and would signal by changing color or through another effect when the antibodies attached to their targets. Users would simply wipe the napkin across a surface; if a biohazard were detected, the surface could be disinfected and retested with another napkin to be sure it was no longer contaminated.

In work conducted with Yong Joo, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Antje Baeumner, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering, both at Cornell, Frey developed nanofibers with platforms made of biotin, a part of the B vitamin complex, and the protein streptavidin, which can hold the antibodies. Composed of a polymer compound made from corn, the nanofibers could be incorporated into conventional paper products to keep costs low. Nanofibers, with diameters near 100 nanometers (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or about three times the diameter of an atom), provide extremely large surface areas for sensing and increased absorbency compared with conventional fibers.

"The fabric basically acts as a sponge that you can use to dip in a liquid or wipe across a surface," Frey said. "As you do that, antibodies in the fabric are going to selectively latch onto whatever pathogen that they match. Using this method we should, in theory, be able to quickly activate the fabric to detect whatever is the hazard of the week, whether it is bird flu, mad cow disease or anthrax."

Frey and her colleagues are still working on ways, such as a color change, for the fabric to signal that it has identified the contaminant.

"We're probably still a few years away from having this ready for the real world," Frey said, "but I really believe there is a place for this type of product that can be used by people with limited training to provide a fast indication of whether a biohazard is present."

This research was supported by the National Research Initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/pressoffice1/Sept06/BiohazardNapkin.html

September 12, 2006 - Edmonton - University of Alberta researchers have built a humidity sensor that can do much more than monitor weather and the likelihood of rain - it may one day help to save lives.

The researchers have used their own patented nanotechnology to build one of the fastest humidity sensors in the world. Although not yet available commercially, the device may be used one day in doctors' offices and hospitals around the globe.

"You can monitor respiration with a fast humidity sensor, and the faster the sensor the better the monitor," said John Steele, a PhD student in the U of A Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and lead author of a paper that will appear in the journal Sensors and Actuators B, Chemical.

Steele noted that a fast humidity sensor can be a valuable tool to help doctors monitor the respiration of neonates and patients under anesthesia, among other potential medical uses.

"Current commercial humidity sensors need at least five seconds to detect humidity changes. We've been able to see changes in less than half a second, which makes our device one of the fastest in the world," Steele added.

The key to the sensor's swiftness is a patented thin film developed by Steele's PhD supervisor, Dr. Michael Brett. Brett's thin film is more porous than most other films and can be adjusted in various ways to offer a larger surface area that is easily accessible to fluids, thus enabling faster sensory detection.

"It's cool to think that the technology we're working on now might one day end up in doctor's offices and hospitals around the world," Steele said.
However, Steele and his colleagues also have their sights on creating sensors to use in non-medical environments. For example, a sensor that could instantly detect harsh or flammable gases would have many applications, he said.

"But it's hard to predict all of the possible applications of this research, because the field of nanotechnology is diverse and you need to collaborate with other researchers in order to develop your ideas to their full potential," Steele said.

"There are a lot of exciting things happening in nanotechnology - the field is booming," he added. "The University of Alberta is right in the middle of it. The facilities here are fantastic - it's a great opportunity to be a student and be able to conduct research here."

Steele's research is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the informatics Circle of Research Excellence (iCORE), the Alberta Ingenuity Fund and Micralyne Inc.

Address of this ExpressNews article:

http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=7867

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 11 - The promise of regenerative medicine and the nanotechnology catapulting it into the forefront of chemistry are highlighted in two papers being presented on Monday, Sept. 11, in San Francisco during the American Chemical Society's 232nd national meeting. The presentations occur on the second day of a three-day symposium, "Advances in Nanomedicine," Sept. 10-12. Both papers will be presented at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Monterey/Cypress Rooms.

Nanotubes help adult stem cells morph into neurons in brain-damaged rats - Carbon nanotubes - 80,000 times thinner than a human hair - enhance the ability of adult stem cells to differentiate into healthy neurons in stroke-damaged rat brains, according to American and South Korean researchers.

Thomas Webster, Ph.D., of Brown University in Providence, R.I, and colleagues at Yonsei University in Seoul mixed nanotubes with adult rat stem cells and then implanted the mixture into brain-damaged areas of three rats that had suffered strokes. In six other rats that had strokes, they implanted either adult stem cells or nanotubes - but not both - into brain-damaged areas. After following the animals for up to eight weeks, the researchers concluded that neither nanotubes nor adult stem cells alone triggered regeneration or repair in the brain-damaged regions. In fact, when used alone, adult stem cells migrated to healthy areas of the brain. But when combined with nanotubes, adult stem cells not only remained in the brain-damaged regions, they began to differentiate into functioning neurons. The finding could have important implications for the treatment of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders, Webster says. (COLL 217, Monday, Sept. 11, 3:20 p.m.)

Nanostructures promote formation of blood vessels, bolster cardiovascular function after heart attack - Injecting nanoparticles into the hearts of mice that suffered heart attacks helped restore cardiovascular function in these animals, according to Samuel Stupp, Ph.D., chemist and director of the Institute of Bionanotechnology in Medicine at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. The finding is an important research advance that one day could help rapidly restore cardiovascular function in people who have heart disease, Stupp says. The self-assembling nanoparticles - made from naturally occurring polysaccharides and molecules known as peptide amphiphiles - boost chemical signals to nearby cells that induce formation of new blood vessels and this may be the mechanism through which they restore cardiovascular function. One month later, the hearts of the treated mice were capable of contracting and pumping blood almost as well as healthy mice. In contrast, the hearts of untreated mice contracted about 50 percent less than normal. In other recent studies using a similar technique, Stupp and his colleagues found nanoparticles hastened wound healing in rabbits and, after islet transplantation, cured diabetes in mice. Nanoparticles with other chemical compositions accelerate bone repair in rats and promote the growth of neurons in mice and rats with spinal cord injuries, he says. (COLL 218, Monday, Sept. 11, 3:50 p.m.)

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-09/acs-npa082906.php

ApNano Materials, Inc. (www.apnano.com), a provider of nanotechnology-based products, today announced an anti-friction medical coatings line, based on NanoLub - ApNano Material's nanotechnology-based solid lubricant. The medical friction-reduction coatings are intended to be used in a variety of medical applications such as guide-wires in catheters, which are used in invasive treatments such as cardiac catheterization, orthodontic wires and braces for teeth straightening, and coatings for artificial joints and hips.

"Frictionless inserts, such as guide-wires in catheters, can reduce pain, limit tissue damage and improve the accurateness and the success of medical procedures," said Dr. Menachem Genut, President and CEO of ApNano Materials. "In addition, the new medical coatings have the potential to significantly reduce friction in implants, such as artificial joints, extensively prolonging implant's life and preventing frequent repetitive operations."

"NanoLub was found to be non-toxic in a variety of tests performed by accredited independent testing laboratories, certified to be in complete compliance with international standards of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development)," said. Dr. Niles Fleischer, VP Business and Product Development, ApNano Materials. "The acute toxicity testing was done in full accordance with European Commission directives for Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)."

NanoLub is based on revolutionary nanoparticles of tungsten disulfide, (WS2), termed inorganic fullerene-like nanostructures, or IF for short. Fullerenes are soccer ball-like clusters of atoms, named after R. Buckminster Fuller, architect of the geodesic dome that he designed for the 1967 Montreal World Exhibition. The inorganic fullerenes were first discovered in breakthrough work in nanotechnology performed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, by a group headed by Professor Reshef Tenne, currently the Head of the Institute's Department of Materials and Interfaces. Dr. Menachem Genut, ApNano Materials' President and CEO was a research fellow in the original research team which discovered the IF nanoparticles at the Weizmann Institute and first to synthesize the new material.

In research work conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Tenne and funded by ApNano Materials, composite coatings containing IF were developed. Tribological tests performed by Prof. Lev Rapoport of the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) demonstrated significantly reduced friction and wear of these self-lubricating coatings. In a work done in collaboration with Prof. Tenne by Drs. Meir Redlich and Alon Katz (both from the Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical Organization, Israel), the friction force of orthodontic wires coated with IF-WS2 nanoparticles embedded in metallic coatings showed more than 50% reduction in friction compared to non-coated wires.

According to Mr. Aharon Feuerstein, Chairman and CFO of ApNano Materials "ApNano Materials, after having initial very encouraging test results, is in advanced negotiations with leading medical device manufacturers worldwide, to integrate NanoLub in existing and future medical product lines."

http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=17332