Nanotechnology Archives - Page 4 of 7

Drug Delivery, Nanoscale

05/02/09 — Roughly the size of a matchstick, a slender titanium tube could become a pint-sized weapon against chronic hepatitis C and a host of other debilitating diseases. Three UCSF/UC Berkeley doctoral students are designing a tiny implantable device capable of delivering steady and minute quantities of potent drugs into the bloodstream. The Nano Precision Pump could reduce serious side effects caused by injections of far larger doses of medicine-improving patient quality of life, compliance and cure rates, the students say.

Striking a Nerve

06/02/08 — Nanofibers that create a miniature scaffold for growing cells could soon help patients regenerate severed nerves in their arms and legs, says Shyam Patel, chief scientific officer for a Fremont startup called NanoNerve. Patel is developing a synthetic graft intended to guide neurons across gaps and restore lost connections in nerves serving limbs and other parts of the peripheral nervous system. In the United States alone, an estimated 800,000 people a year experience peripheral nerve injuries that require surgery and that can lead to a loss of sensation and movement. The new device-a flexible conduit that resembles a slender white straw-could open a new treatment option.

Down to the Wire

04/02/08 — For years, nanoengineers have known how to create tiny wire transistors, sensors, light emitters and other useful components, but there's been no sure way to assemble them into integrated circuits because they're too small to manipulate. “You could look at things under a microscope, but you couldn't touch them,” explains EECS professor Ming Wu. But Wu and his research group have developed “optoelectronic tweezers” that can individually address wires and other nanoscale objects and convey them to precise locations. This has been the field's most challenging problem, and solving it paves the way for an entire class of devices from microdisplays to medical imaging tools.