Home > News > Viruses as nanotechnology building blocks for materials and devices
March 18th, 2007
Viruses as nanotechnology building blocks for materials and devices
Abstract:
Geneticists regularly use viruses as vectors to introduce genes into cells that they are studying. Viruses are also the most common carrier vehicles in gene therapy. Having been genetically altered to carry normal human DNA, they deliver the therapeutic genes to the patient's target cells. These viruses infect cells, deposit their DNA payloads, and take over the cells' machinery to produce the desirable proteins. Current trends in nanotechnology promise to take virus technology into an entirely new direction. From the viewpoint of a materials scientist, viruses can be regarded as organic nanoparticles. Their surface carries specific tools designed to cross the barriers of their host cells. The size and shape of viruses, and the number and nature of the functional groups on their surface, is precisely defined. As such, viruses are commonly used in materials science as scaffolds for covalently linked surface modifications. The powerful techniques developed by life sciences are becoming the basis of engineering approaches towards nanomaterials, opening a wide range of applications far beyond biology and medicine.
Source:
nanowerk.com
Bookmark:
| Related News Press |
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers
Atomic imperfections move quantum communication network closer to reality June 25th, 2017
Rice U. chemists create 3-D printed graphene foam June 22nd, 2017
Tiny bubbles provide tremendous propulsion in new microparticles research-Ben-Gurion U. June 21st, 2017
Nanobiotechnology
Researchers developed nanoparticle based contrast agent for dual modal imaging of cancer June 21st, 2017
Mussels add muscle to biocompatible fibers: Rice University chemists develop hydrogel strings using compound found in sea creatures June 9th, 2017
Nanobiotix's promising data from Phase I/II head and neck cancer trial presented at ASCO June 5th, 2017
 |
||
 |
||
| The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
 |
||
|
|
||
| Premium Products | ||
 |
||
|
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
 |
||
|
University Technology Transfer & Patents
Learn More |
||
 |
||
|
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||
|
|
||