Thursday, 28th June 2007 (3748 views)

New research into gold nanoparticles could have the potential to help the medical sector, it has emerged.

Conducted by the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, the research demonstrates the formation of protein-gold arrays by strategically attaching gold nanoparticles to proteins.

According to scientists from the laboratory, the nanoparticle-protein complexes could be used as catalysts for converting biomass into energy or as precision vehicles for targeted drug delivery.

One aspect of the study examined proteins found on the surface of the cold-causing adenovirus.

The researchers suggest that attaching these proteins to gold nanoparticles could enhance their ability to bind to human cells and could be used as vehicles to deliver drugs to cells such as those that make up tumours.

To be presented in the July 2nd 2007 issue of the journal Angewandte Chemie, the study was funded by Brookhaven's Laboratory Directed Research and Development programme, the Office of Environmental and Biological Research within the US Department of Energy's Office of Science and the Institute of General Medical Sciences within the National Institutes of Health.

Meanwhile, scientists from the University of Central Lancashire are developing forensic technology with gold nanoparticles, reports the Blackpool Citizen.

 

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