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nanotimes News in Brief
II type 2 receptor, which helps to maintain cardio- vascular tissue. By attaching this receptor gene to peptide nanoparticles, Tamura hopes to create a form of treatment that can directly target cancer cells without damaging healthy cells.
“The peptide itself is a very safe material and it has no harmful effects,” said Tamura, who is one of the first researchers to use the peptide for cancer treat- ment. “The gene is actually already expressed in our body – everybody has this gene.”
Here is how the cancer treatment works: The re- ceptor gene containing the nanoparticles spreads to only cancer tissue since the blood vessels in cancer tissues are flimsy. The nanoparticles help the recep- tor gene kill the cancer cells. The immune system is then stimulated to prevent the cancer from growing back.
“This is very exciting because our own immune system can prevent cancer growth,” Tamura said.
While the receptor gene works well for tumors that are easier to reach in the body, cancers that are deep within the body, such as gastric or pancreatic cancers, are more difficult to treat. Sometimes the gene needs help targeting and reaching the cance- rous cells. That‘s where the peptide comes in. It can guide the receptor gene directly to the cancer cells so treatment can begin.
http://www.k-state.edu
11-09 :: September 2011
A fully functional, fast switching and printable transistor in cheap plastic is invented by resear- cher Lars Herlogsson, Linkoping University in Sweden. The thesis claims that with the help of po- lymers, plastics, which are already manufactured on a large scale, it is possible to manufacture transistors that are fast and can run on small printed batteries, where the drive voltage is around 1 volt. The transi- stor is made up of two polymers, one of which acts as a semiconductor and the other as an electrolyte; a substance containing mobile charged ions that controls the current flowing through the transistor. All of the six articles in the dissertation have been published in the prestigious scientific journal Advan- ced Materials.
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-69636
L. Kergoat, L. Herlogsson, D, Braga, B. Piro, M-C. Pham, X. Crispin, M. Berggren and G. Horowitz: A Water-Gate Organic Field-Effect Transistor, In: Advanced Materi- als, Vol. 22, Issue 23, June 18, 2010, Pages 2565-2569, DOI:10.1002/adma.200904163:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.200904163
Nichola Coleman of the University of Greenwich, U.K., has developed a simple processing method for converting waste container glass, or cullet, into the mineral tobermorite. Tobermorite is hy- drated calcium silicate, silicate being the main ma- terial that can be extracted from glass. In the form produced, the phase-pure 11-angstrom form - the mineral can be used as an ion-exchange material
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