Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

The physics of coffee rings

Researchers have devised a predictive model that combines laboratory studies of microscopic glass particles in solution with mathematical theories to predict the existence, thickness and length of the banded ring patterns that formed.

Nov 24th, 2010

Read more

Methane-powered laptops may be closer than you think

Making fuel cells practical and affordable will not happen overnight. It may, however, not take much longer. With advances in nanostructured devices, lower operating temperatures, and the use of an abundant fuel source and cheaper materials, a group of researchers led by Shriram Ramanathan at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are increasingly optimistic about the commercial viability of the technology.

Nov 23rd, 2010

Read more

Magnetic field directs nanoparticles to tumors

To improve the tumor-specific delivery of drug to tumors, a team of investigators has created a system of nanoparticles-within-a-nanoparticle that can be directed to and concentrated at the site of tumor using a magnetic field. Once at the tumor site, radiofrequency irradiation triggers drug release from the nanoparticles, bathing the tumors in drug and markedly reducing the growth of the tumors.

Nov 23rd, 2010

Read more

Nanoshells provide golden 'touch' in killing breast tumors

Gold nanoparticles have shown promise as miniature thermal scalpels that when irradiated with near-infrared light are capable of cooking tumors to death. Now, a team of investigators have found that gold nanoshells can be used to deliver just a little heat to breast tumor cells already treated with radiation, boosting the killing power of both therapies.

Nov 23rd, 2010

Read more

Second-generation device more effective in capturing circulating tumor cells

In 2007, Mehmet Toner and Daniel Haber and their collaborators at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School developed a microfluidic device capable of trapping rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of cancer patients. Since then, these investigators, working with Harvard Medical School colleague Shyamala Maheswaren, have shown that captured CTCs can be used to characterize tumors from patients with lung and prostate cancer.

Nov 23rd, 2010

Read more

RSS Subscribe to our Nanotechnology News feed