(Funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) is celebrating its 20-year anniversary! Over the years, researchers at the NTRC have studied the #toxicity of many engineered nanomaterials throughout their life cycles. The research has covered primary manufactured forms (such as carbon nanotubes, nanoscale titanium dioxide, and silver nanoparticles) and modified versions for specific applications (such as silica-coated iron oxide, heat-treated carbon nanotubes, and reduced graphene oxide). Early studies focused on the tiniest components of air pollution, known as ultrafine particles, which laid the foundation for ongoing research efforts to assess two types of nanoparticles found in workplaces: engineered nanomaterials (purposely created for various applications) and process-derived nanoparticles (unintentionally produced during industrial processes). Also, using samples from worker health effects studies, researchers developed toxicology studies to determine biomarkers of exposure and disease. Together, these studies offer valuable data for understanding workplace hazards and risks.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation)
Researchers from Duke University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Harvard Medical School have developed a platform that uses sound waves as acoustic tweezers to sort viruses from other compounds in a liquid. The platform consists of a rectangular chip with a sample-loading inlet at one end and separate virus and waste outlets at the other end. Two acoustic beams were applied across the chip, perpendicular to the sample flow. Particles larger than 150 nanometers (nm) in diameter were trapped on the chip, particles smaller than 50 nm left through the waste outlet, and viruses of intermediate sizes (50 to 150 nm) were collected via the virus outlet.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)
Researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a nanomedicine that increases the penetration and accumulation of chemotherapy drugs in tumor tissues and effectively kills cancer cells in mice. The researchers looked at a particular pathway known as stimulator of interferon genes (STING), whose activation increases the leakiness of blood vessels near the tumor. They designed nanoparticles that encapsulates both STING activators and chemotherapy drugs and evaluated the antitumor effects of the therapy in multiple kinds of tumors in mice; they found large tumor growth inhibition and high cure rates.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Defense)
Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new way to see organs within a body by rendering overlying tissues transparent to visible light. The counterintuitive process – a topical application of a common food dye – was reversible in tests with animal subjects and may ultimately apply to a wide range of medical diagnostics, from locating injuries to monitoring digestive disorders to identifying cancers. To conduct their research, the scientists used a tool called an ellipsometer at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities – open access facilities that are part of the National Science Foundation-funded National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). “Open access to such instrumentation is foundational for making groundbreaking discoveries, as those instruments can be deployed in new ways to generate fundamental insights about scientific phenomena,” said NSF Program Officer Richard Nash, who oversees the NSF NNCI.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense)
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new filtration material that might provide a nature-based solution to water contaminated by “forever chemicals,” or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The filtration material, based on natural silk and cellulose, can remove a variety of these persistent chemicals, as well as heavy metals. The researchers devised a way of processing silk proteins into uniform nanoscale crystals, or “nanofibrils.” Then, they integrated cellulose into the silk-based fibrils, which formed a thin membrane that was highly effective at removing PFAS in lab tests.