Posts Tagged ‘Biomedical’
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September 9th, 2009
Linking Innovation
One of the websites linking university IP with the outside world is ibridge network. Its packed with university technologies to try to attract commercial interest. One of the recent additions to the site is ‘Novel Gold-Nanoparticle Hydrogels for Bioprinting Applications’ from the University of Utah Technology Commercialization Office. This gold nanoparticle based hydrogel is proposed for use in bioprinting tissue engineering. -
August 5th, 2009
Burning tumours with gold
I came across this excellent Medical News Today article detailing the work of Romain Quidant of the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona. Professor Quidant’s work focuses on the manipulation of microscopic and nanoscopic objects with light, an area of research which holds real promise when considering the use of gold nanoparticles both in the field of diagnostics and in treatment of cancerous tumours.
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July 28th, 2009
Biosensing and Biomedicine at GOLD2009
Yesterday was my second day in the job with the World Gold Council, so being able to start at such a fantastic meeting here in Heidelberg has been a great introduction for me into the science of gold.
Coming from a pharmaceutical background my attention was immediately drawn to some of the innovations in the field of biosensing and biomedicine. Vincent Rotello from the University of Massachusetts presented an excellent paper on the use of gold nanoparticles in diagnostics and therapeutics, a field I believe is going to become increasingly important in the coming years as a consequence of many pharmaceutical organisations gradual shift in focus from small molecule drug development to the field of biopharmaceutics. Qun Huo, from the University of Central Florida, then presented her fascinating work on the development of a sensitive, yet simple and cost effective, immunoassay technique combining gold nanoparticulates with the robust analytical technique of Dynamic Light Scattering. Christophe Alric from the University of Lyon wrapped up the session with an excellent review of his groups work in the use of gold nanoparticles specifically designed for in vivo SRCT and MRI imaging and X-ray therapy.
A truly excellent session of innovative science which has whetted my appetite for the rest of the meeting.
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June 23rd, 2009
Growth in gold publications
Excellent graph here on the Nanocolours blog, showing the rapid growth in biomedical publications mentioning ‘gold nanoparticles’ in the title or abstract……….I’ve seen similar graphs showing the growth in ‘gold catalysis’ over the last 15 years.
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June 4th, 2009
Prostate cancer testing
In May, World Gold Council announced its support for the University of Florida in the development of novel prostate cancer detection technology using gold nanoparticles (here). Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News has further information on this here……
University of Central Florida researcher Qun "Treen" Huo works with gold nanoparticles. Credit: Jacque Brund
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April 17th, 2009
Reviews on Bioinorganic and Biomedical Chemistry of Gold
The June 2009 issue of Coordination Chemistry Reviews, to be published by Elsevier will contain a number of articles relevant to new biomedical applications for gold. The eleven papers include ‘Gold nanoparticle probes’ by Zhenzin Wang and Lina Ma, ‘Luminescence properties of phosphinegold(I) halides and thiolates by Edward Tietink and Jun-Gill Kang, ‘The tumour proteasome as a novel target for gold(III) complexes: implications for breast cancer therapy’ by Vesna Milacic and Q Ping Dou, and ‘Structures and properties of gold(I) complexes of interest in biochemical applications’ by John P Fackler Jr et al. In addition, there are three articles on use of gold compounds as anticancer drugs. This publication will assist in defining the significant number of biomedical applications now expected for nanoparticulate gold and gold compounds.
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April 14th, 2009
BBC Highlights Use of Gold Nanoparticles in HIV Testing
The BBC website is describing the use of gold nanoparticles in HIV treatment. The Bwindi Community Hospital HIV/AIDS Clinic in southwest Uganda is using a new system donated to the hospital last year that has since transformed the care that can be offered to HIV patients.
The Bwindi Community Hospital HIV/AIDS Clinic in southwest Uganda
The machine is a portable blood-testing device - it uses a blood sample and within 10 minutes provides a print-out detailing the condition of a patient’s immune system.
The technology counts CD4 positive T cells which are the white blood cells that the HIV virus latches on to – attacking and destroying them. The machine was developed by PointCare, a company based in the US that specialises in diagnostic equipment for the developing world.
As described on the BBC website until recently the reagents and chemicals needed to run diagnostic tests were unstable in the local conditions. What was needed was a test reagent that could be used in remote areas and that could withstand the relatively high temperatures encountered in these regions. The answer? The PointCare technology uses gold particles attached to the anti-CD4 antibody. These gold-bound antibodies are very heat-stable – they can be stored for an entire year.
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April 6th, 2009
Excellent Summary of CytImmune Sciences
This story has a great summary of the progress made by CytImmune Sciences in their quest to bring gold-based cancer therapies to the market
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April 1st, 2009
New Gold Nanobeads
Nanopartz have released a new product line of gold nanoparticles. Read more here…..
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March 24th, 2009
Adding value to paper
One of the research networks that have an interest in gold is the Sentinel Bioactive paper Network in Canada. The network is a grouping of universities and businesses focused on developing paper that will detect, capture and deactivate water and airborne pathogens.To test for pesticides, the network has developed the use of gold nanoparticles and the technology is available for licensing here. In the video on their website, you will see that the paper strip, embedded with gold nanoparticles, changes colour from red to blue when it comes into contact with the substance being analyzed in the solution.
Richard Holliday
Trevor Keel
David Thompson
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