Tuesday, 15th January 2008 (2639 views)

Scientists in South Africa are developing new healthcare tools - including tests to diagnose diseases - using gold nanoparticles, according to Digital Opportunity Channel.

The country's first two nanotechnology innovation centres - Mintek and the National Centre for Nano-structured Materials at the council for scientific and industrial research - opened in November 2007 and are currently using gold nanoparticles to develop a range of new medical products.

According to Mintek nanotechnology scientist Robert Tshikhudo, nanotechnology is currently being applied to the development of inexpensive point-of-care diagnostic tests that can be used by ordinary people.

"This is being done by using gold nanoparticles to develop a product that looks like an off-the-shelf pregnancy test," he explained.

He added that this test may be used to detect a number of conditions, including the presence of viruses, bacteria or hormones.

Last week, Chemical Technology reported that a team of scientists in Japan have developed a new sputter disposition technique, which can be applied to the mass production of gold nanoparticles.

 

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