A tiny particle undetectable by the human eye is at the center of future research and discovery in science, technology and medicine. Experts, including a national academy of sciences member, have commented that the University of Missouri-Columbia is ten years ahead of the curve, due to discoveries made in the field of nanoscience by Kattesh Katti, professor of radiology and biomedical physics and Raghuraman Kannan, research assistant professor of radiology. These discoveries paved the way for the recent opening of the Nanoparticle Production Core Facility (NPCF), one of the first on-campus facilities of its kind.
"One can use other processes but what we have developed is superior to any process out there," Katti said. "We already are seeing the results of setting up such a facility. Development of a number of new nanoscience research projects and submission of several research grants were possible because of the availability of nanoparticles that would not have been possible without this resource."
The NPCF will produce a reliable and continuous supply of metallic nanoparticles to help researchers pursue cutting edge research in nanoscience, nanotechnology and nanomedicine. The center has been able to facilitate research in cancer imaging and therapy that depends on direct applications of metallic nanoparticles, Katti said. The nanoparticles are provided to radiologists, biologists, physicists and engineers. The availability of nanoparticles is a unique resource because in many cases certain types may not be commercially available or cannot be shipped. The on-campus facility provides an endless supply of gold and silver nanoparticles in various sizes or customized to a researcher's specification, Kannan said.
Metallic nanoparticles are made especially for medical applications in a patented process. Research is underway at MU to use these nanoparticles to detect cancer, even at a pre-cancerous stage through medical imaging techniques. MU experts from several fields, including radiology, biochemistry, veterinary sciences, biomedical engineering and physics, are working together to use the tiny nanoparticles to treat cancer at the molecular level.
"This production facility is a unique resource for MU and the state of Missouri moving both forward into the field of nanomedicine," Katti said. "A $5 million grant recently was submitted to the National Institute of Health to establish a major multi-faculty cancer and nanotechnology platform at MU."
"Dr. Katti and Dr. Kannan are very forward-thinking scientists and their research has moved MU to the front of the line in the area of nanomedicine," said Radiology Department Chair Robert Churchill. "Their basic science research is of the highest quality and the results of their research provide the foundation for the development of new and innovative ways to image certain types of cancer and to ultimately treat cancer."
According to Katti, the NPCF is serving as an important hub to provide formal education and training in nanoscience and nanotechnology to MU's undergraduate and graduate students to shape the future of major nanotechnological scientific developments related to human health and hygiene.
"We are really proud and excited by the cutting-edge research that Dr. Katti and his group are doing in the field of nanomedicine," said Vice Provost for Research James Coleman. "The Nanoparticles Production Core Facility is a centerpiece of that work and also in our plans to build one of the best nanomedicine programs in the world."
Source: University of Missouri
Related stories:
Breakthroughs in nanotechnology on edge of 'knowledge frontier'
University of Missouri scientist Kattesh Katti recently discovered how to make gold nanoparticles using gold salts, soybeans and water. Katti’s research has garnered attention worldwide and the environmentally-friendly discovery could have major applications in several disciplines.
Researchers go nano, natural and green
In 2002, U.S. farmers harvested 2.7 billion bushels of soybeans. Last year in Missouri, farmers harvested 194 million bushels of soybeans worth about $1.2 billion. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia is turning those soybeans into gold, with nothing more than a little water.
Common Ingredient in Big Macs and Sodas Can Stabilize Gold Nanoparticles for Medical Use
The future of cancer detection and treatment may be in gold nanoparticles – tiny pieces of gold so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye. The potential of gold nanoparticles has been hindered by the difficulty of making them in a stable, nontoxic form that can be injected into a patient. New research at the University of Missouri-Columbia has found that a plant extract can be used to overcome this problem, creating a new type of gold nanoparticle that is stable and nontoxic and can be administered orally or injected.
Natural Gum Improves Gold Nanoparticles for Cancer Imaging
Gold nanoparticles have shown significant promise as agents to detect and treat cancer, but researchers have had difficulty creating gold nanoparticles that have suitable pharmacological properties for use in humans. A team led by Kattesh Katti, Ph.D., principal investigator of the Hybrid Nanoparticles in Imaging and Therapy of Prostate Cancer Platform Partnership based at the University of Missouri, may have solved this problem using old-fashioned gum arabic, a compound widely used in processed foods.
Nanomedicine: Treating cancer at molecular level
Earlier detection of
cancer means a better chance of effective treatment. The five-year survival rate for a patient with Stage I breast cancer is 98 percent, while the survival rate for later detection, stage II or greater, drops to as low as 16 percent. University of Missouri-Columbia experts from several fields, including physics and radiology, are working together to use ultra tiny nanoparticles to detect and treat cancer at the molecular level. The researchers involved with this project say early detection of all types of cancer is the primary motivation for this
research.
Breaking the 'mucus barrier' with a new drug delivery system
Chemical engineers from Johns Hopkins University have broken the "mucus barrier," engineering the first drug-delivery particles capable of passing through human mucus — regarded by many as nearly impenetrable — and carrying medication that could treat a range of diseases. Those conditions include lung cancer, cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis, the research noted in a presentation scheduled for the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Newly detected air pollutant mimics damaging effects of cigarette smoke
A previously unrecognized group of air pollutants could have effects remarkably similar to harmful substances found in tobacco smoke, Louisiana scientists are reporting in a study scheduled for presentation today at the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Inhaling those pollutants exposes the average person up to 300 times more free radicals daily than from smoking one cigarette, they added.
Dual-Mode Nanoparticles Image Tumors Using MRI and PET
Medical imaging represents one of the most used and useful procedures in the oncologist’s diagnostic toolkit, even though each of the most useful techniques—magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography x-ray imaging (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning—has its own set of limitations.