Cutting Nanoparticles Down To Size
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
A new technique in chemistry could pave the way for producing uniform nanoparticles for use in drug delivery systems.
Scientists have been investigating how to make better use of nanoparticles in medicine for several decades. Significantly smaller than an average cell, nanoparticles are more similar in size to proteins. This makes them good at interacting with biomolecules and transporting drug molecules attached to their surface across cell membranes.
To date, however, only a handful of nanoparticle-based drugs have succeeded in reaching the clinic. This is because of the challenges in controlling the size and shape of nanoparticles-and understanding fully how these variables affect the way the particles behave in the body.
In a new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Bath have demonstrated a technique that will allow chemists to more closely control the size and shape of nanoparticles.
Dr. Tom Wilks, in the University of Birmingham's School of Chemistry, is one of the lead authors of the study. He explains: "If you change the shape of a nanoparticle from, for example, a spherical to a cylindrical shape, others have shown that this can have a dramatic effect on how it interacts with cells in the body, and how it is distributed through the body. By being able to control the size and shape, we can start to design and test nanoparticles that are exactly suited to an intended function."
Currently, to produce differently shaped nanoparticles for drug delivery scientists have to develop a bespoke chemical synthesis for each, which can be a laborious, time-consuming and expensive process.
Journal information: Anisotropic polymer nanoparticles with controlled dimensions from the morphological transformation of isotropic seeds, Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13263-6)
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