Category: Nanodot

Roland Piquepaille writes "Here is another fascinating story. In "Nanotech spy eyes life inside the cell," the New Scientist writes that researchers at Indiana University in Bloomington are using viruses carrying gold nanoparticles as 'nano-cameras' to image living cells and understand how the viruses do their work. The researchers took a virus that infects barley, put it in an alkaline solution and introduced the gold nanoparticles in the solution. Then they fired a green laser. When the laser hit the gold, it went in many directions, revealing what's inside the cell. Now, they have to test this technique on real plant cells. If it works, scientists will be able to really look at individual viruses. This summary contains more details and an illustration."

Roland Piquepaille writes "Scientists at Northwestern University have designed the smallest scaffoldings in the world made of self-assembling structures built from synthetic molecules. This news release says that these nanostructures can promote neuron growth. This could lead to "the reversal of paralysis due to spinal cord injury." This research has important potential because, as says Nature, "every year in the United States alone, about 15,000 people damage their spines [and] few recover fully." The results of this research work have been published by Science (free registration needed to read the abstract). This summary contains more details and excerpts."