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Tuesday, 28th July 2009 (5379 views)

Gold nanoparticles have been used by researchers at the University of Washington (UW) to create the first multipurpose nanotechnology tool for use in medical imaging and therapy.

Dr Xiaohu Gao and Dr Yongdong Jin began developing their nanotechnology 'Swiss army knife' to harness the benefits of nanoparticles used for delivering drugs and cell therapies and quantum dots, which are fluorescent balls of semiconductor material being developed for medical imaging.

Previous attempts to combine quantum dots and gold nanoparticles in a single particle have been unsuccessful because their respective electrical fields interfere with each other.

The UW team got around this by building a 'golden egg', with a quantum dot at the centre surrounded by polymer and encased in a shell of gold nanoparticles. This separation eliminates electrical field interference, yet the gold shell is still thin enough to allow half the dot's fluorescence to pass through.

Dr Gao said the gold shell could be used to attach biological molecules that target tumour cells, while the quantum dot could be employed in fluorescent imaging.

Furthermore, because gold is biocompatible, it is already medically approved and could be used as a container for nanoparticles to be used in the body, he added.

Dr Gao runs UW's Gao Lab, which specialises in research on targeted drug delivery, molecular diagnostics and nano science and engineering.

 

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