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Wednesday, 19th September 2007 (6819 views)

Engineering researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have developed a technology using gold nanoparticles that could help treat diseases such as HIV and cancer.

The device enhances the delivery of drugs by releasing gold nanoparticles into the body, which allow doctors to track patterns of the spread of disease by attaching themselves to infected cells.

Nanosponges, the term for nanoparticles that act as vehicles for delivering drugs in the human body, target specific infected cells, which can increase the efficiency of the drug delivery process in the treatment of ulcers, kidney stones and tumours.

The project was led by Shubhra Gangopadhyay, the co-director of the university's Micro/Nano Systems Technology Centre, Missouri's only nanotechnological research facility.

The device, the smallest of its kind, is the size of four kernels of popcorn and will undergo up to three more years of testing before it is made available to pharmaceutical companies, according to Steve Apperson, a doctoral student who collaborated on the project.

 

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