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Supercomputer Modeling Reveals Critical Shape Changes in Nanoparticle Seed Formation

2025-04-02 - 2025-04

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have developed a new method for effectively modeling seed particles composed of 100–200 atoms using a supercomputer. They found that the temperature and solvent composition had unexpected effects on the shapes of these microscopic particles. Interestingly, adding or removing just one atom can sometimes lead to a significant change in the particle's shape.

Radioactive gold nanoparticles could track drug distribution in the body

2025-04-01 - 2025-04

Gold nanoparticles are promising vehicles for targeted delivery of cancer drugs, offering biocompatibility plus a tendency to accumulate in tumours. To fully exploit their potential, it’s essential to be able to track the movement of these nanoparticles in the body. To date, however, methods for directly visualizing their pharmacokinetics have not yet been established. Aiming to address this shortfall, researchers in Japan are using neutron-activated gold radioisotopes to image nanoparticle distribution in vivo.

The team, headed up by Nanase Koshikawa and Jun Kataoka from Waseda University, are investigating the use of radioactive gold nanoparticles based on 198Au, which they create by irradiating stable gold (197Au) with low-energy neutrons. The radioisotope 198Au has a half-life of 2.7 days and emits 412 keV gamma rays, enabling a technique known as activation imaging.

“Our motivation was to visualize gold nanoparticles without labelling them with tracers,” explains Koshikawa. “Radioactivation allows gold nanoparticles themselves to become detectable from outside the body. We used neutron activation because it does not change the atomic number, ensuring the chemical properties of gold nanoparticles remain unchanged.”

What is Nanotechnology. A Simple Guide to Tiny Tech for Indians

2025-03-31 - 2025-03

magine a world where diseases are treated at the molecular level, electronics become smaller yet more powerful, and environmental pollution is cleaned using nano-sized materials. For India, with its rapidly growing tech sector and healthcare challenges, this isn’t science fiction but the transformative power of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology involves the study and manipulation of nanomaterials, operating at a remarkably small scale—a nanometer is just a billionth of a metre. At this size, materials behave in unique ways, and understanding these properties is leading to groundbreaking advancements in medicine, electronics, energy, and manufacturing sectors that are vital to India’s development.

India bets of nano tech to power AI and supercomputing

2025-03-28 - 2025-03

India is expanding its nanoelectronics ecosystem to boost AI, supercomputing, and semiconductor manufacturing. MeitY’s initiatives aim to strengthen domestic chip production, enhance research, and position India as a global semiconductor leader
There are 20 billion transistors in one smartphone, and these are smaller than the size of a human hair. This advancement is leading to supercomputing, quantum computing, and, importantly, artificial intelligence, enabling us to do more computing with less time and energy consumption, Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, MeitY (ministry of electronics and information technology), pointed out. He was speaking on the revolution that Nanotechnology has brought into our lives and how the whole world of technology is shrinking at India's first Nano Electronics Roadshow at IISc (Indian Institute of Science) in Bengaluru.

RNA interference and nanomedicine join forces to fight dangerous fungal infections

2025-03-27 - 2025-03

Fungal infections are on the rise globally. According to a study by the Manchester Fungal Infection Group, in 2022, approximately 6.5 million people were infected by a pathogenic fungus, and about 3.8 million died as a result—nearly twice as many as in 2012. Even with medications, known as antifungals, the mortality rate for invasive infections caused by the mold Aspergillus fumigatus is as high as 85%. As resistant fungal strains increase, treatment becomes more difficult, and new therapies are urgently needed.
The study, published in the journal Nanoscale and highlighted on the back cover, demonstrates that this RNAi approach shuts down vital fungal genes, thereby inhibiting pathogen growth—a groundbreaking step in the development of new antifungal therapies.

Nanotechnology Revolutionizes Breast Cancer Treatment

2025-03-26 - 2025-03

Nanotechnology in Breast Cancer Treatment: Australian scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in nanotechnology for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. The iron-based nanoparticles developed by researchers can help make conventional treatments more effective.
TNBC differs from other types of breast cancer because it lacks the proteins that most conventional treatments target. For this reason, it is more challenging to treat.
These nano-adjuvants, developed by scientists at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), enhance the body’s immune system, increasing its ability to fight cancer.

Nanotechnology breakthrough may boost treatment for aggressive breast cancer: Study

2025-03-24 - 2025-03

Researchers in Australia are developing next-generation nanoparticles to enhance current treatments for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of the disease.

The researchers are designing innovative iron-based nanoparticles, or “nano-adjuvants,” which are small enough to fit thousands on a single strand of hair, to strengthen the body’s immune response against TNBC, according to the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Unlike other breast cancers, TNBC lacks the proteins targeted by some conventional treatments, making effective therapy a significant challenge, according to Prof. Yu Chengzhong from the AIBN.

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