Superparamagnetic nanoparticles – a tool for early diagnostics

Nanoparticles show several interesting new physical and biological properties and therefore play an increasing role in pharmaceutics and medicine. For more than 30 years this research field has been developing slowly but steadily from physical and biological interest (bench) to applications in clinics (bedside). However, many of these particles for biomedical applications are still in the pre-clinical or clinical phase. Combined with drugs or genes these nanoparticles may change the viability of or the transcription processes in cells, which make them interesting for the pharmaceutical industry, cell biology and diagnostics. Because most of the application of superparamagnetic nanoparticles as therapeutic tool, like non-viral vector, drug delivery, are still far from clinical use, this review will concentrate on superparamagnetic nanoparticles as versatile agent for early diagnosis, including the use of such particles as contrast agent for MR imaging and as vehicle for the detection of biomarkers

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Nanoparticles may provide advanced biomedical research tools based on polymeric or inorganic formulations or a combination of both. They have the potential to be used in many different biological and medical applications as in diagnostic tests assays for early detection of diseases, to serve as tools for noninvasive imaging and drug development, and to be used as targeted drug delivery systems to minimize secondary systemic negative effects

Nanoparticles for early diagnostics of inflammatory diseases: new approaches in the field of soft and hard nanoparticles: NANOFOL NanoDiaRa Conference 7th Framework Programme

Two European Research Projects NanoDiaRA and NANOFOL, exploring novel techniques and scientific relationships in a very transdisciplinary way in the field of diagnosis and therapeutics of inflammatory diseases, have jointly organized a conference. The conference will present the results of more than 20 research groups and more than 70 scientist, engineers, technicians and trainees having had the opportunity to work together, to exchange, to learn and to profit from this interchange for their career. Starting more than 20 years ago with Cost Actions, BriteEuram and the various Framework projects, the EU funding has allowed European researchers to work in close collaboration beyond national borders, and to exchange in science and culture. The EU Commission also encouraged academia and industry to work closer together already in research and development and this conference will highlight some of this collaborative work. We expect that presentations and discussions might help to create new concept ideas to exploit results of NanoDiaRA and NANOFOL and help to build new projects under the frame of Horizon 2020. In this sense we would like to thank all participants from both projects as well outside participants who are coming to listen, to learn, and to exchange, and the EU Commission for funding these projects and by this allowing more sustainable European partnerships.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Nanoparticles may provide advanced biomedical research tools based on polymeric or inorganic formulations or a combination of both. They have the potential to be used in many different biological and medical applications as in diagnostic tests assays for early detection of diseases, to serve as tools for noninvasive imaging and drug development, and to be used as targeted drug delivery systems to minimize secondary systemic negative effects

Enhancement of the efficiency of non-viral gene delivery by application of pulsed magnetic field

New approaches to increase the efficiency of non-viral gene delivery are still required. Here we report a simple approach that enhances gene delivery using permanent and pulsating magnetic fields. DNA plasmids and novel DNA fragments (PCR products) containing sequence encoding for green fluorescent protein were coupled to polyethylenimine coated superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SPIONs). The complexes were added to cells that were subsequently exposed to permanent and pulsating magnetic fields. Presence of these magnetic fields significantly increased the transfection efficiency 40 times more than in cells not exposed to the magnetic field. The transfection efficiency was highest when the nanoparticles were sedimented on the permanent magnet before the application of the pulsating field, both for small (50 nm) and large (200-250 nm) nanoparticles. The highly efficient gene transfer already within 5 min shows that this technique is a powerful tool for future in vivo studies, where rapid gene delivery is required before systemic clearance or filtration of the gene vectors occur

Enhancement of the efficiency of non-viral gene delivery by application of pulsed magnetic field

New approaches to increase the efficiency of non-viral gene delivery are still required. Here we report a simple approach that enhances gene delivery using permanent and pulsating magnetic fields. DNA plasmids and novel DNA fragments (PCR products) containing sequence encoding for green fluorescent protein were coupled to polyethylenimine coated superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SPIONs). The complexes were added to cells that were subsequently exposed to permanent and pulsating magnetic fields. Presence of these magnetic fields significantly increased the transfection efficiency 40 times more than in cells not exposed to the magnetic field. The transfection efficiency was highest when the nanoparticles were sedimented on the permanent magnet before the application of the pulsating field, both for small (50 nm) and large (200–250 nm) nanoparticles. The highly efficient gene transfer already within 5 min shows that this technique is a powerful tool for future in vivo studies, where rapid gene delivery is required before systemic clearance or filtration of the gene vectors occurs

“Nanostandardization” in action: implementing standardization processes in a multidisciplinary nanoparticle-based research and development project

Nanomaterials have attracted much interest in the medical field and related applications as their distinct properties in the nano-range enable new and improved diagnosis and therapies. Owing to these properties and their potential interactions with the human body and the environment, the impact of nanomaterials on humans and their potential toxicity have been regarded a very significant issue. Consequently, nanomaterials are the subject of a wide range of cutting-edge research efforts in the medical and related fields to thoroughly probe their potential beneficial utilizations and their more negative effects. We posit that the lack of standardization in the field is a serious shortcoming as it has led to the establishment of methods and results that do not ensure sufficient consistency and thus in our view can possibly result in research outputs that are not as robust as they should be. The main aim of this article is to present how NanoDiaRA, a large FP7 European multidisciplinary project that seeks to investigate and develop nanotechnology-based diagnostic systems, has developed and implemented robust, standardized methods to support research practices involving the engineering and manipulation of nanomaterials. First, to contextualize this research, an overview of the measures defined by different regulatory bodies concerning nano-safety is presented. Although these authorities have been very active in the past several years, many questions remain unanswered in our view. Second, a number of national and international projects that attempted to ensure more reliable exchanges of methods and results are discussed. However, the frequent lack of publication of procedures and protocols in research can often be a hindrance for sharing those good practices. Subsequently, the efforts made through NanoDiaRA to introduce standardized methods and techniques to support the development and utilization of nanomaterials are discussed in depth. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with the partners of this project, and the interviews were analyzed thematically to highlight the determined efforts of the researchers to standardize their methods. Finally, some recommendations are made towards the setting up of well-defined methods to support the high-quality work of collaborative nanoparticle-based research and development projects and to enhance standardization processes

Reduced TRPC Channel Expression in Psoriatic Keratinocytes Is Associated with Impaired Differentiation and Enhanced Proliferation

Psoriasis is a characteristic inflammatory and scaly skin condition with typical histopathological features including increased proliferation and hampered differentiation of keratinocytes. The activation of innate and adaptive inflammatory cellular immune responses is considered to be the main trigger factor of the epidermal changes in psoriatic skin. However, the molecular players that are involved in enhanced proliferation and impaired differentiation of psoriatic keratinocytes are only partly understood. One important factor that regulates differentiation on the cellular level is Ca2+. In normal epidermis, a Ca2+ gradient exists that is disturbed in psoriatic plaques, favoring impaired keratinocyte proliferation. Several TRPC channels such as TRPC1, TRPC4, or TRPC6 are key proteins in the regulation of high [Ca2+]ex induced differentiation. Here, we investigated if TRPC channel function is impaired in psoriasis using calcium imaging, RT-PCR, western blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining of skin biopsies. We demonstrated substantial defects in Ca2+ influx in psoriatic keratinocytes in response to high extracellular Ca2+ levels, associated with a downregulation of all TRPC channels investigated, including TRPC6 channels. As TRPC6 channel activation can partially overcome this Ca2+ entry defect, specific TRPC channel activators may be potential new drug candidates for the topical treatment of psoriasis

Nanoparticles in medicine: Current challenges facing inorganic nanoparticle toxicity assessments and standardizations

Although nanoparticles research is ongoing since more than 30 years, the development of methods and standard protocols required for their safety and efficacy testing for human use is still in development. The review covers questions on toxicity, safety, risk and legal issues over the lifecycle of inorganic nanoparticles for medical applications. The following topics were covered: (i) In vitro tests may give only a very first indication of possible toxicity as in the actual methods interactions at systemic level are mainly neglected; (ii) the science-driven and the regulation-driven approaches do not really fit for decisive strategies whether or not a nanoparticle should be further developed and may receive a kind of "safety label". (iii) Cost and time of development are the limiting factors for the drug pipeline. Knowing which property of a nanoparticle makes it toxic it may be feasible to re-engineer the particle for higher safety (safety by design). From the Clinical Editor: Testing the safety and efficacy of nanoparticles for human use is still in need of standardization. In this concise review, the author described and discussed the current unresolved issues over the application of inorganic nanoparticles for medical applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Critical raw materials: A perspective from the materials science community

Functional materials are crucial to meet today's societal challenges and needs, such as the transition towards low carbon energy production to reduce climate change, renewable energies and green economy, clean mobility and improved communication. In order to fulfill specific functions, many of these materials require a variety of specific metallic elements whose total reserves in primary deposits on the planet are limited in quantity and unevenly distributed, respectively require significant efforts for exploration and investments in their exploitation. Furthermore, the extraction and processing of the corresponding metallic minerals can be sometimes related to a high environmental burden as well as frequently negative social impacts. While in contrast to fossil fuels mineral materials can be principally recycled and hence kept as resources, closing the materials loop especially for many specialty metals today is often hampered by dissipation as well as by physical and economic challenges. These metallic elements are also listed under "critical raw materials" which have been receiving increased attention in scientific and policy-related debates over the last decade and years. In this paper, we introduce the topic of materials criticality for the special issue of Sustainable Materials and Technologies and observe how the criticality of raw materials is perceived and handled within Materials Science. For this, we (i) present examples of critical raw materials in advanced technologies, (ii) summarize some definitions of criticality, (iii) outline the topic of critical raw materials in the Material Scientist community by highlighting relevant outcomes of a survey on critical raw materials for materials scientists, and (iv) conduct a literature research on "Critical Raw Materials" and "Criticality" in search engines commonly used by materials scientists. The results show that material scientists seem frequently not concerned with the criticality of raw materials in their work, and that the relevant terms appear for a broader scientific community mainly in the fields of environmental science, chemistry-related processing and environmental and resource management. The paper presents and discusses these results and suggests to advance the implementation of the concept of materials criticality in materials research and development. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved