News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Ellagic acid has been shown to mitigate Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. But for ellagic acid to be effective, its cytotoxic potential needs to be reduced so only its anti-oxidant potential can be exploited. Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have developed a nanohybrid — a combination of two nanomaterials through chemical bonding — that can be used to optimally deliver ellagic acid into the human body. The researchers discovered that a nanohybrid made by combining ellagic acid and a sugar called chitosan reduces the cytotoxicity of ellagic acid while enhancing its anti-oxidant properties. This nanohybrid is uniquely suited for drug release over extended time periods.

Flipping the standard viral drug targeting approach on its head, engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a promising new method for preventing HIV from proliferating in the body: coating polymer nanoparticles with the membranes of T helper cells and turning them into decoys to intercept viral particles and block them from binding and infiltrating the body's actual immune cells. This technique could be applied to many different kinds of viruses.

Flipping the standard viral drug targeting approach on its head, engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a promising new method for preventing HIV from proliferating in the body: coating polymer nanoparticles with the membranes of T helper cells and turning them into decoys to intercept viral particles and block them from binding and infiltrating the body's actual immune cells. This technique could be applied to many different kinds of viruses.

Researchers at Penn State have developed a new way to deliver therapeutic proteins inside the body by using an acoustically sensitive nanoscale carrier to encapsulate the proteins and ultrasound to image and guide the carrier to the exact location required. Ultrasound then breaks the carrier, allowing the proteins to enter the cell. The scientists are leveraging this technology to deliver antibodies that can alter abnormal signaling pathways in tumor cells.

Researchers at Penn State have developed a new way to deliver therapeutic proteins inside the body by using an acoustically sensitive nanoscale carrier to encapsulate the proteins and ultrasound to image and guide the carrier to the exact location required. Ultrasound then breaks the carrier, allowing the proteins to enter the cell. The scientists are leveraging this technology to deliver antibodies that can alter abnormal signaling pathways in tumor cells.

Researchers at Caltech have developed an electronic skin that could be applied directly to human skin. Made from soft, flexible rubber, the electronic skin can be embedded with sensors to monitor heart rate, body temperature, and levels of blood sugar. The electronic skin can also monitor nerve signals that control muscles by running on biofuel cells made from carbon nanotubes and powered by human sweat.

Researchers at Caltech have developed an electronic skin that could be applied directly to human skin. Made from soft, flexible rubber, the electronic skin can be embedded with sensors to monitor heart rate, body temperature, and levels of blood sugar. The electronic skin can also monitor nerve signals that control muscles by running on biofuel cells made from carbon nanotubes and powered by human sweat.

This summer, NASA plans to launch its next Mars rover, Perseverance, which will carry with it the first aircraft to ever fly on another planet, the Mars Helicopter. Penn Engineers are suggesting a different approach to exploring the skies of other worlds: a fleet of tiny aircraft that each weighs about as much as a fruit fly and has no moving parts. These flyers are plates of "nanocardboard," which levitate when light  is shone on them. A "nanocardboard" is made of an aluminum oxide film with a thickness of tens of nanometers and is the ultrathin equivalent of corrugated paper cardboard. One square centimeter of nanocardboard weighs less than a thousandth of a gram and can spring back into shape after being bent in half. (see Penn Engineers Develop Ultrathin, Ultralight ‘Nanocardboard’)

This summer, NASA plans to launch its next Mars rover, Perseverance, which will carry with it the first aircraft to ever fly on another planet, the Mars Helicopter. Penn Engineers are suggesting a different approach to exploring the skies of other worlds: a fleet of tiny aircraft that each weighs about as much as a fruit fly and has no moving parts. These flyers are plates of "nanocardboard," which levitate when light  is shone on them. A "nanocardboard" is made of an aluminum oxide film with a thickness of tens of nanometers and is the ultrathin equivalent of corrugated paper cardboard. One square centimeter of nanocardboard weighs less than a thousandth of a gram and can spring back into shape after being bent in half. (see Penn Engineers Develop Ultrathin, Ultralight ‘Nanocardboard’)

A team of biomaterials scientists and dentists at the UCLA School of Dentistry has developed a nanoparticle that, based on initial experiments in mice, could improve treatment for bone defects. In a six-week study using mice with bone defects in their skulls, the researchers saw an average reduction of roughly 50% in the size of the defects after the drug-loaded scaffold was implanted.