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Bio & Medicine

Bio & Medicine

The team creates magnetic microrobots with folate to aid in the delivery of specific drugs to cancer cells.

The therapeutic efficacy of microrobots is hampered by their limited ability to assist drugs in entering cells. The cancer-targeting molecule folic acid (FA) has been introduced to microrobots to promote drug uptake by cancer cells via receptor-ligand-mediated endocytosis by a research team, as reported in Cyborg and Bionic Systems. As a result, a drug delivery system has been developed that uses endocytosis to deliver loaded drugs into the cytoplasm and can use magnetic fields to locate lesion areas. In numerous fields like minimally invasive surgery, drug delivery, environmental remediation, and tissue engineering, untethered microrobots have demonstrated remarkable accomplishments. Due to
Bio & Medicine

Magnetic nanoparticles are being used as a fast test for sepsis.

An Empa researcher named Qun Ren and her team are currently working on a diagnostic method that can quickly identify staphylococcal blood poisoning, which can be fatal. Up to 40% of cases of staph infection lead to death. The spherical bacterial infection may have begun as a local skin disease or pneumonia. In the course of sepsis, the staphylococci can swarm into the bloodstream, causing severe complications. In situations like these, the pathogens need to be found as soon as possible, and the right antibiotics need to be chosen for treatment. Because Staphylococcus aureus strains can be insensitive to a
Bio & Medicine

Flexible nanoelectrodes can deliver precise brain stimulation.

One of the body's softest and most delicate tissues is frequently too soft and bulky for conventional implantable medical devices designed for brain stimulation. Rice University engineers have created ultraflexible, minimally invasive nanoelectrodes that could be implanted as a platform for long-term, high-resolution stimulation therapy to address the issue. As per a review distributed in Cell Reports, the little implantable gadgets framed steady, durable, and consistent tissue-terminal connection points with negligible scarring or debasement in rodents. Compared to stimuli from conventional intracortical electrodes, the devices provided electrical pulses that were more closely matched to the patterns and amplitudes of neuronal
Bio & Medicine

One day, medical’microrobots’ may be used to cure bladder disease and other human disorders.

A group of specialists at the College of Colorado at Boulder has planned another class of small, self-moving robots that can hurdle through fluid at unimaginable paces and may one day even convey physician-endorsed medications to hard-to-reach places inside the human body. In a paper that was published a month ago in the journal Small, the researchers talk about their miniature medical professionals. "Imagine if microrobots could play out specific undertakings in the body, like painless medical procedures," said Jin Lee, lead creator of the review and a postdoctoral specialist in the Division of Synthetic and Organic Designing. "Rather than
Bio & Medicine

A team is developing nanoparticles to treat brain tumors.

A nanoparticle developed by researchers at the University of Queensland can deliver a chemotherapy drug to aggressive, rapidly growing brain tumors. The new silica nanoparticle can be loaded with temozolomide, a small-molecule drug used to treat glioblastoma, according to Dr. Taskeen Janjua, the lead researcher on the research team. "This chemotherapy drug has limits — it doesn't remain in that frame of mind for extremely long, it very well may be pushed out of the cerebrum, and it doesn't have a high entrance from blood into the cerebrum," Dr. Janjua said. "We developed an ultra-small, large-pore nanoparticle to help the
Bio & Medicine

New 3D stretchable electronics have the potential to advance organ-on-chip technology.

Electronic nanomembranes that are flexible have the potential to revolutionize organ-on-chip technologies and eliminate the need for animal testing in medical research. UNSW Sydney engineers have discovered a method for fabricating flexible electronic systems on extremely thin skin-like materials. By making organ-on-chip technology more effective, the development makes it possible for complete stretchable 3D structures to function like semiconductors. This could significantly reduce the need for animal testing. In the future, the technology might also be put to use in wearable health monitoring systems or biomedical applications that can be implanted, like a system to tell people with epilepsy when
Bio & Medicine

Antimicrobial nanonets demonstrate versatility by reducing inflammatory responses during sepsis.

Pharmacists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have created multifunctional synthetic peptide nanonets to treat bacterial infection-induced inflammation. By simultaneously capturing bacterial endotoxins and pro-inflammatory cytokines, this is accomplished. Endotoxemia is characterized by the presence of endotoxins in the blood. During systemic infections, gram-negative pathogens like E. coli may release these endotoxins. When left uncontrolled, fiery host reactions can bring about broad tissue harm and septic shock, which are related to a high death rate. Due to the complex interactions between pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators, previous research efforts to develop targeted therapies for sepsis have, regrettably, largely failed. For
Bio & Medicine

A new manufacturing method for therapeutic nanovesicles has been developed.

Particles known as extracellular vesicles assume a fundamental role in correspondence among cells and in numerous cell capabilities. These "membrane particles" are cargoes of specific signaling molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids that are released into the environment by cells. Sadly, only a small number of the vesicles are spontaneously formed by cells. The items in these extracellular vesicles change contingent upon the beginning and state of the cell, as do the proteins that are moored to the vesicle surface. By analyzing extracellular vesicles isolated from blood samples, for instance, researchers use these properties to create novel methods for diagnosing
Bio & Medicine

New alternatives for addressing fungus infections are provided by nanorobotic systems.

Due to their resistance to current treatments, fungus-caused infections like Candida albicans pose a significant threat to global health, to the point where the World Health Organization has designated this as a top priority. The current iterations of nanomaterials lack the potency and specificity required for quick and targeted treatment, despite their potential as antifungal agents. This results in prolonged treatment times, potential off-target effects, and drug resistance. A team of researchers led by Hyun (Michel) Koo from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and Edward Steager from Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a
Bio & Medicine

The ability of a protein-based nano-computer to regulate cell behavior evolves.

The primary protein-based nano-figuring specialist that has the capabilities of a circuit has been made by Penn State scientists. They are now one step closer to developing cell-based therapies for the next generation to treat conditions like diabetes and cancer. Conventional manufactured science approaches for cell-based treatments, for example, ones that obliterate disease cells or support tissue recovery after injury, depend on the articulation or concealment of proteins that produce an ideal activity inside a cell. When proteins are expressed and degraded using this method, it can take some time and consume energy from the cell. A different approach is