News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Researchers at Houston Methodist have developed a new delivery system for a diabetes drug. After linking a peptide-based diabetes drug to fatty acids, the researchers packaged the resulting combination in nanoparticles that were resistant to gastric acids in the stomach. The nanoparticles were then injected into diabetic mice, and once the nanoparticles were inside the small intestine, the drug molecules were released from the nanoparticles, and the mice absorbed approximately 25% of the drug dosage.

Researchers at Houston Methodist have developed a new delivery system for a diabetes drug. After linking a peptide-based diabetes drug to fatty acids, the researchers packaged the resulting combination in nanoparticles that were resistant to gastric acids in the stomach. The nanoparticles were then injected into diabetic mice, and once the nanoparticles were inside the small intestine, the drug molecules were released from the nanoparticles, and the mice absorbed approximately 25% of the drug dosage.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have used a focused beam of electrons to stitch platinum-silicon molecules into graphene, marking the first deliberate insertion of artificial molecules into a graphene host matrix. This process could be useful for prototyping solid-state qubits from graphene and other ultra-thin materials.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have used a focused beam of electrons to stitch platinum-silicon molecules into graphene, marking the first deliberate insertion of artificial molecules into a graphene host matrix. This process could be useful for prototyping solid-state qubits from graphene and other ultra-thin materials.

A tremendous potential for biomedical applications, including targeted delivery of drugs, exists through DNA nanostructures, but one key challenge has been the limited stability of these structures in the body’s tissues and blood. Now, researchers have circumvented that problem by discovering a potential direct route to biostability: an already existing biostable DNA motif applicable to the design of new drug carriers and diagnostics.

A tremendous potential for biomedical applications, including targeted delivery of drugs, exists through DNA nanostructures, but one key challenge has been the limited stability of these structures in the body’s tissues and blood. Now, researchers have circumvented that problem by discovering a potential direct route to biostability: an already existing biostable DNA motif applicable to the design of new drug carriers and diagnostics.

The process of crystallization, in which atoms or molecules line up in orderly arrays like soldiers in formation, is the basis for many of the materials that define modern life, including the silicon in microchips and solar cells. But there has been a dearth of good tools for studying this type of growth. Now, a team of researchers at MIT and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, both in Cambridge, MA, has found a way to reproduce the growth of crystals on surfaces, but at a larger scale, which makes the process easier to study and analyze. Rather than assembling these crystals from actual atoms, the researchers used spherical nanoparticles of gold, coated with specially selected single strands of genetically engineered DNA.

The process of crystallization, in which atoms or molecules line up in orderly arrays like soldiers in formation, is the basis for many of the materials that define modern life, including the silicon in microchips and solar cells. But there has been a dearth of good tools for studying this type of growth. Now, a team of researchers at MIT and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, both in Cambridge, MA, has found a way to reproduce the growth of crystals on surfaces, but at a larger scale, which makes the process easier to study and analyze. Rather than assembling these crystals from actual atoms, the researchers used spherical nanoparticles of gold, coated with specially selected single strands of genetically engineered DNA.

Researchers have discovered how two-dimensional cages trap some noble gases. These cages are only nanometers, or billionths of a meter, thick. They can trap atoms of argon, krypton, and xenon at above-freezing temperatures. Noble gases are hard to trap using other methods, because they condense at temperatures far below freezing.

Researchers have discovered how two-dimensional cages trap some noble gases. These cages are only nanometers, or billionths of a meter, thick. They can trap atoms of argon, krypton, and xenon at above-freezing temperatures. Noble gases are hard to trap using other methods, because they condense at temperatures far below freezing.