11-05 :: May/June 2011

nanotimes News in Brief

Researchers from University of Toronto, Canada, and Yunnan University, China, demonstrate a chlorinated ITO transparent electrode with a work function of >6.1 eV that provides a direct match to the energy-levels of the active light-emitting mate- rials in state-of-the-art OLEDs. A highly simplified green OLED with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 54% and power efficiency of 230 lumens per watt using out-coupling enhance- ment was demonstrated, as were EQE of 50% and power efficiency of 110 lumens per watt at 10,000 candela per square meter. © Science

M. G. Helander, Z. B. Wang, J. Qiu, M. T. Greiner, D. P. Puzzo, Z. W. Liu, Z. H. Lu: Chlorinated Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes with High Work Function for Organic Device Compatibility, In: Science Express, April 14, 2011, DOI:10.1126/science.1202992: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1202992

65

Benjamin Diop-Frimpong, Vikash P. Chauhan, Stephen Krane, Yves Boucher, and Rakesh K. Jain: Losartan inhi- bits collagen I synthesis and improves the distribution and efficacy of nanotherapeutics in tumors, In: PNAS, Vol. 108(2011), No. 7, February 15, 2011, Pages 2909-2914, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1018892108: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1018892108

U.S. researchers examined high-temperature copper oxide superconductors. Utpal Chatterjee, Dingfei Ai, Junjing Zhao, Stephan Rosenkranz, Adam Kaminski, Helene Raffy, Zhizhong Li, Kazuo Kadowaki, Mohit Randeria, Michael R. Norman, and J. C. Campuzano: Electronic phase diagram of high- temperature copper oxide superconductors, In: PNAS Early Edition, May 23, 2011, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1101008108: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101008108

U.S. researchers tested whether losartan – a clini- cally approved angiotensin II receptor antagonist with noted antifibrotic activity – can enhance the penetration and efficacy of nanomedicine. They found that losartan inhibited collagen I produc- tion by carcinoma-associated fibroblasts isolated from breast cancer biopsies. Additionally, it led to a dose-dependent reduction in stromal collagen in desmoplastic models of human breast, pancreatic, and skin tumors in mice. Furthermore, losartan improved the distribution and therapeutic efficacy of intratumorally injected oncolytic herpes simplex viruses. © PNAS

Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, USA, have shown that they can deliver the cancer drug cisplatin much more effectively and safely in a form that has been encapsulated in a nanoparticle targeted to prostate tumor cells and is activated once it reaches its target.

Using the new particles, the researchers were able to successfully shrink tumors in mice, using only one-third the amount of conventional cisplatin needed to achieve the same effect. That could help reduce cisplatin’s potentially severe side effects,