Imaging by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry of plasma patterned metal and oxide thin films

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) imaging is employed to characterize the surface of patterned noble metal (Pt) and titania (TiO2) thin films deposited on oxidized silicon wafers. ToF-SIMS is used to follow the different process steps during the thin films patterning as well as the post-processing cleaning. Both positive and negative ToF-SIMS modes reveal the presence of contaminants, due to the etching processes (Cl- Al-,(+)), but only on the etched surfaces. Elements due to the post-processing cleaning (K+, Na+, Pb+) and photoresist residues are also detected but on the entire wafer surface. The utility of these chemically well-defined titania/platinum patterns is demonstrated for the,selective adsorption of phosphonic acid derivatives. Typical fragments of phosphonic acid groups, i.e. PO2- and PO3- show their preferential adsorption on TiO2. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

New methods for improved characterization of silica nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems

The incorporation of silica nanoparticles into drug delivery vehicles, and other nanotech platforms, has experienced rapid and significant growth over the past decade. However, as these nanoparticle-based systems become more and more complex, the methods used to analyze these systems have evolved at a comparatively much slower pace, resulting in the need for researchers to expand their toolbox and devise new strategies to characterize these materials. This article describes how X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) were recently employed in the analysis of two separate drug delivery systems which contain organic compounds covalently attached to the surfaces of silica nanoparticles. These techniques provided a deluge of qualitative and quantitative information about these drug delivery systems, and have several clear advantages over more common characterization procedures such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR). Thus, XPS and ToF-SIMS should be an integral component of the standard characterization protocol for any nanoparticle-based assemblies particularly silica-based drug delivery systems-as this field of research continues to develop

Lineage- and stage-restricted lentiviral vectors for the gene therapy of chronic granulomatous disease

Insertional mutagenesis represents a serious adverse effect of gene therapy with integrating vectors. However, although uncontrolled activation of growth-promoting genes in stem cells can predictably lead to oncological processes, this is far less likely if vector transcriptional activity can be restricted to fully differentiated cells. Diseases requiring phenotypic correction only in mature cells offer such an opportunity, provided that lineage/stage-restricted systems can be properly tailored. In this study, we followed this reasoning to design lentiviral vectors for the gene therapy of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), an immune deficiency due a loss of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase in phagocytes, most often secondary to mutations in gp91(phox). Using self-inactivating HIV1-derived vectors as background, we first expressed enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) from a minimal gp91(phox) promoter, adding various natural or synthetic transcriptional regulatory elements to foster both specificity and potency. The resulting vectors were assessed either by transplantation or by lentiviral transgenesis, searching for combinations conferring strong and specific expression into mature phagocytic cells. The most promising vector was modified to express gp91(phox) and used to treat CGD mice. High-level restoration of NADPH activity was documented in granulocytes from the treated animals. We propose that this lineage-specific lentiviral vector is a suitable candidate for the gene therapy of CGD