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

Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have modified lipid nanoparticles to not only cross the blood-brain barrier but also to target specific types of cells, including neurons. The researchers showed how short strings of amino acids can serve as precise targeting molecules, enabling the lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA specifically to the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels of the brain, as well as neurons. This breakthrough marks a significant step toward potential next-generation treatments for neurological diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Heman Bekele, 15, is pursuing scientific research to determine whether it would be possible to use a bar of soap to treat skin cancer. The bar of soap would contain lipid nanoparticles that would carry drugs to the skin where it would fight skin cancer. His scientific curiosity and experience finding and working with mentors has helped him develop and test this idea further and be recognized by TIME Magazine as the 2024 Kid of the Year.

Researchers from the University of Central Florida have developed a new technique to detect long-wave infrared photons of different wavelengths based on a nanopatterned graphene. "No present cooled or uncooled detectors offer such dynamic spectral tunability and ultrafast response," said Debashis Chanda, the scientist who led this study. "This demonstration underscores the potential of engineered monolayer graphene [long-wave infrared] detectors operating at room temperature, offering high sensitivity as well as dynamic spectral tunability for spectroscopic imaging." The new detection and imaging technique will have applications in analyzing materials by their spectral properties, or spectroscopic imaging, as well as thermal imaging applications.

Researchers from Florida State University; the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, FL; and the Universitat de València in Spain have unlocked a new method for producing one class of 2D material and for supercharging its magnetic properties. Experimenting on a metallic magnet made from the elements iron, germanium and tellurium, the research team made two breakthroughs: a collection method that yielded 1,000 times more material than typical practices, and the ability to change the material’s magnetic properties through a chemical treatment. "We're moving toward developing more efficient electronic devices that consume less power, are lighter, faster and more responsive,” said Michael Shatruk, the scientist who led this study. “2D materials are a big part of this equation, but there's still a lot of work to be done to make them viable. Our research is part of that effort."

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that lipid nanoparticles can mediate more than 100-fold greater mRNA delivery to the placenta of pregnant mice with pre-eclampsia than a lipid nanoparticle formulation approved by the U.S. Food  and Drug Administration. These lipid nanoparticles can decrease high blood pressure and increase vasodilation in these pre-eclamptic pregnant mice.

These research results offer hope to develop a cure for pre-eclampsia in humans, a condition that arises due to insufficient blood flow to the placenta and results in high maternal blood pressure and restricted blood flow to the fetus. 

Researchers from Caltech, the University of Southern California, Santa Clara University, and the National University of Singapore have developed microrobots that decreased the size of bladder tumors in mice by delivering therapeutic drugs directly to the bladders. The microrobots incorporated magnetic nanoparticles and the therapeutic drug within the outer structure of the spheres. The magnetic nanoparticles allowed the scientists to direct the robots to a desired location using an external magnetic field. When the microrobots reached their targets, they remained in that spot, and the drug passively diffused out.

Proteins called photosystems are critical to photosynthesis – the process used by plants to convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy. Combining one kind of these proteins, called photosystem I, with platinum nanoparticles, creates a biohybrid catalyst. Now, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Yale University have determined the structure of the photosystem I biohybrid solar fuel catalyst. Building on more than 13 years of research pioneered at Argonne, the team reports the first high-resolution view of a biohybrid structure. This advancement opens the door for researchers to develop biohybrid solar fuel systems with improved performance, which would provide a sustainable alternative to traditional energy sources.

Researchers from New York University and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, have observed growth-induced self-organized stacking domains when three graphene layers are stacked and twisted with precision. The findings demonstrate how specific stacking arrangements in three-layer graphene systems emerge naturally – eliminating the need for complex, non-scalable techniques traditionally used in graphene twisting fabrication. The size and shape of these stacking domains are influenced by the interplay of strain and the geometry of the three-layer graphene regions. Some domains form as stripe-like structures, tens of nanometers wide and extending over microns.

Scientists at Rice University have made it possible to capture clear images of objects through hot windows. The core of this breakthrough lies in the design of nanoscale resonators, which work like miniature tuning forks trapping and enhancing electromagnetic waves within specific frequencies. The resonators are made from silicon and organized in a precise array that allows fine control over how the window emits and transmits thermal radiation. One immediate application is in chemical processing, in which chemical reactions inside high-temperature chambers need to be monitored.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky and the New York Blood Center in New York City have discovered that combining magnetic nanoparticles with ascorbic acid destroyed breast cancer cells, but only if the nanoparticles were added and went inside the cells first before the ascorbic acid was added. "This discovery underscores the significance of coordinating nanoparticles and ascorbic acid in cancer treatment,” said Sheng Tong, the scientist who led this study. The researchers also engineered a specific type of immune cell, called macrophages, to carry the nanoparticles to the tumor site. When loaded with magnetic nanoparticles, the macrophages can be guided to the tumor using an external magnetic field.