The University of Surrey has been awarded a grant of £420,000 to utilize nanotechnology to develop cancer treatments. The grant is part of an international project: “Multifunctional Carbon Nanotubes for Biomedical Applications (CARBIO)” supported by the European Union under the Marie Curie scheme.
Carbon nanotubes have already found applications in engineering but so far any biological application has been hampered by their poor interaction with biological systems.
The Surrey team has overcome this problem by wrapping DNA and RNA around carbon nanotubes making them biocompatible. The aim of the project is to attach additional molecules to the RNA-wrapped carbon nanotubes to target them towards cancer cells. In combination with laser treatment the carbon nanotubes may then be used to kill the cancer cells.
Although there is still a long way to go before any new drugs based on this technology are developed, the scientists hope that their work will eventually lead to more effective treatments for cancer.
The multidisciplinary project involves biologists, engineers and physicists from the University of Dresden in Germany, the University of Toulouse, France, the University of Linz, Austria, the University of Twente, The Netherlands and the University of Surrey.
Further information is available from the CARBIO website
http://www.carbio.eu/ . The work at Surrey is headed by Professor Johnjoe McFadden, Professor Ravi Silva, and Dr Helen Coley from the disciplines of Electronic Engineering, Biology and Medicine, respectively.
Source: University of Surrey
Related stories:
UniS scientists to investigate the secrets of the universe
The Nuclear Physics Group at the University of Surrey has been awarded a large scale grant worth almost half a million pounds (£483k) from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to synthesise and study the structure of the most exotic forms of nuclear matter created to date.
UniS scientists to investigate the secrets of the universe
The Nuclear Physics Group at the University of Surrey has been awarded a large scale grant worth almost half a million pounds (£483k) from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)) to synthesise and study the structure of the most exotic forms of nuclear matter created to date.
Trio of Researchers Wins $1.1-Million Grant to Study Nanoparticles
Applications, Effects of Peptide-Wrapped Carbon Nanotubes Focus of Three-Year Project Funded by French Science Agency
An international trio of scientists, including a chemist from The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), has won a three-year, $1.1-million grant from a French science foundation to conduct collaborative research of nanoparticles, with an emphasis on possible bio-medical applications of such particles and their potential effects on the human body.
Researchers clarify function of glucose transport molecule
Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have solved the structure of a class of proteins known as sodium glucose co-transporters (SGLTs), which pump glucose into cells. These transport proteins are used in the treatment of chronic diarrhea via oral rehydration therapy, saving the lives of millions of children each year. The solution of the SGLT structure will accelerate development of new drugs designed to treat patients with diabetes and cancer.
Looking for the Founatain of Youth? Cut your calories, research suggests
Want to slow the signs of aging and live longer? New Saint Louis University research suggests cutting back on calories could be a promising strategy.
Blood vessel inhibitor shows promise against metastatic thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer that has spread to distant sites has a poor prognosis, but an experimental drug that inhibits tumor blood vessel formation can slow disease progression in some patients, a research team led by investigators from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the July 3rd edition of
The New England Journal of Medicine.
FSU researcher using computers to hone cancer-fighting strategies
A Florida State University faculty member who uses computational techniques to evaluate a new class of cancer-killing drugs is attracting worldwide attention from other researchers.
Researchers identify potential new drug candidates to combat 'bird flu'
As the specter of a worldwide outbreak of avian or "bird flu" lingers, health officials recognize that new drugs are desperately needed since some strains of the virus already have developed resistance to the current roster of anti-flu remedies.