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

Scientists from Binghamton University; Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Yizheng Hospital of the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Group in China; and Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany are researching the use of cell-derived nanovesicles to deliver therapeutic agents to the interior of cancer cells with better accuracy and efficiency. By identifying overexpressed or cancer-specific antigens that occur in malignant cells and targeting the nanovesicles, encapsulated drugs were injected into cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

Scientists from the Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Rice University, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend have discovered that a nano-sized carbon material derived from the oxidation of carbon-rich sources could be used to treat Down syndrome and other disorders associated with high levels of hydrogen sulfide. The scientists showed that when hydrogen sulfide is converted into its metabolites, these metabolites offer favorable functions such as modifying proteins to improve their ability to act as antioxidants. 

Researchers from the University of Washington; the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan; and Osaka University in Japan have discovered that it is possible to imbue graphite – the bulk, 3D material found in pencils – with physical properties similar to graphite's 2D counterpart, graphene. The scientists adapted an approach commonly used to probe and manipulate the properties of 2D materials: stacking 2D sheets together at a small twist angle. They placed a single layer of graphene on top of a thin, bulk graphite crystal, and then introduced a twist angle of around 1 degree between graphite and graphene. They detected novel and unexpected electrical properties not just at the twisted interface but deep in the bulk graphite, as well.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Genentech have improved the design of lipid nanoparticles used for drug delivery. The scientists discovered that lipid nanoparticles with neatly ordered, closely packed internal structures led to better silencing of a faulty gene in human neurons that is associated with a degenerative disease, compared with lipid nanoparticles that had a more disordered structure. 

Rice University engineers have created containers that can keep volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from accumulating on the surfaces of stored nanomaterials. VOCs are carbon-based molecules that are emitted from many common products, including cleaning fluids, paints, and office and crafting supplies. The researchers showed that this new type of storage container prevented surface contamination for at least six weeks and could even clean VOC-deposited layers from previously contaminated surfaces.

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology; Hyperfine Inc. in Guilford, CT; and the University of Florence in Italy have discovered that nanoparticles can boost image quality in low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The researchers found that iron oxide nanoparticles outperformed traditional contrast agents, which are used in conventional MRI machines and are made of the element gadolinium. At low magnetic field strength, the nanoparticles provided good contrast using a concentration of only about one-ninth that of the gadolinium particles.

A new technology being pioneered at Caltech is allowing researchers from Caltech and Northrop Grumman Corporation to "evolve" optical devices and then print them out using a specialized type of 3D printer. These devices are made of so-called optical metamaterials that derive their properties from structures so small they are measured in nanometers, and they may allow cameras and sensors to detect and manipulate properties of light in ways not previously possible at small scales.

Researchers from the Nanotechnology and Advanced Spectroscopy Team at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Center for Nanoscale Materials at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have devised a new approach to developing semiconductor materials at tiny scales. The researchers incorporated magnetic dopants into specially engineered colloidal quantum dots – nanoscale-size semiconductor crystals – and were able to achieve effects that may power solar cell technology, photodetectors and applications that depend on light to drive chemical reactions.

Researchers at Drexel University have produced a titanium oxide nanofilament material that can harness sunlight to unlock the potential of titanium dioxide as a fuel source. The discovery offers an alternative to current methods, which generate greenhouse gas and require a great deal of energy. "Our titanium oxide one-dimensional nanofilaments #photocatalyst showed activity that is substantially higher – by an order of magnitude – than its commercial titanium oxide counterpart," said Hussein O. Badr, one of the scientists involved in this study. 

University of Texas at Dallas scientists have discovered a previously unknown "housekeeping" process in kidney cells that ejects unwanted content, resulting in cells that rejuvenate themselves and remain functioning and healthy. The scientists focused on gold nanoparticles, which are used as imaging agents, and investigated how they are filtered by the kidneys and cleared from the body through urine. "In the field of nanomedicine, we want to minimize accumulation of nanoparticles in the body as much as possible," said Jie Zheng, one of the scientists involved in this study. “We don't want them to get stuck in the kidneys, so it's very important to understand how nanoparticles are eliminated from the proximal tubules.”