Nanotechnology and nanomaterials: Promises for improved tissue regeneration is top article in NanoToday

A paper written by Dr. Lijie Zhang ScM'07 PhD'09, now an assistant professor at George Washington University, and Brown University associate professor Dr. Thomas Webster, is currently the most downloaded article from the journal NanoToday.

The article is entitled "Nanotechnology and nanomaterials: Promises for improved tissue regeneration" NanoToday 4(1):66-80, 2009 and covers recent advancements in the use of nanotechnology to improve tissue growth for numerous implant applications.

Summary
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine aim to develop biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve damaged tissue and organ functionality. While tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have hinted at much promise in the last several decades, significant research is still required to provide exciting alternative materials to finally solve the numerous problems associated with traditional implants. Nanotechnology, or the use of nanomaterials (defined as those materials with constituent dimensions less than 100 nm), may have the answers since only these materials can mimic surface properties (including topography, energy, etc.) of natural tissues. For these reasons, over the last decade, nanomaterials have been highlighted as promising candidates for improving traditional tissue engineering materials. Importantly, these efforts have highlighted that nanomaterials exhibit superior cytocompatible, mechanical, electrical, optical, catalytic and magnetic properties compared to conventional (or micron structured) materials. These unique properties of nanomaterials have helped to improve various tissue growth over what is achievable today. In this review paper, the promise of nanomaterials for bone, cartilage, vascular, neural and bladder tissue engineering applications will be reviewed. Moreover, as an important future area of research, the potential risk and toxicity of nanomaterial synthesis and use related to human health are emphasized.

Link to NanoToday:
http://journals.elsevier.com/17480132/nano-today/

Link to full article:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B82X8-4TVY5PJ-2&_user=489286&_coverDate=02/28/2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000022678&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=489286&md5=0590ae25

"Magnetic nanoparticles: biomedical applications and challenges" Among Most Read Articles in Journal of Materials Chemistry

An article written by graduate student Nhiem Tran and Associate Professor Thomas J. Webster, ‘Magnetic nanoparticles: biomedical applications and challenges’ was one of the top ten most-read articles from the online version of Journal of Materials Chemistry for October 2010.


Here is an abstract of the article:
The progress in the development of magnetic nanoparticle based therapies for various biomedical applications is reviewed here. Most significantly, magnetic nanoparticles have been widely used in drug delivery and hyperthermia treatment for cancer. However, recent applications of magnetic nanoparticles demonstrate their promise towards decreasing implant infection and increasing tissue growth. To build the most effective magnetic nanoparticle systems for various biomedical applications, particle characteristics including size, surface chemistry, magnetic properties and toxicity have to be fully investigated. In this review, several new applications of magnetic nanoparticles in the medical arena as well as remaining challenges for such clinical use are discussed.

Full link:
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2010/JM/C0JM00994F

Prof. Shenoy and Rassin Grantab study the strength of graphene

Science Magazine reports in the November 12, 2010 edition that graphene’s strength lies in its defects. Researchers, including Vivek Shenoy, professor of engineering, and graduate student Rassin Grantab, find that the juncture at which graphene sheets meet does not compromise the material’s strength. These so-called grain boundaries are so strong, in fact, that the sheets are nearly as strong as pure graphene. The trick lies in the angles at which the individual sheets are stitched together.


Full report online: www.sciencemagnews.com/graphenes-strength-lies-in-its-defects.html
See news release: news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2010/11/graphene
(Credit: Mike Cohea/Brown University)

BrainGate2 featured in article by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) is one of the Institutes that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH is the Federal government's focal point for the support of biomedical research.

"BrainGate2 is the brainchild of a group of neuroscientists and neuroengineers based at Brown University in Providence, R. I. NIDCD grantee Leigh Hochberg, M.D., Ph.D., affiliated with Brown and the VA Medical Center in Providence, and Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, leads the effort to make this investigational technology a communication tool for the locked-in. Without even moving an eyelid, someone with locked-in syndrome only has to imagine moving his or her hand on a computer mouse to make the cursor move on the computer screen."

Full feature story located here:
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/inside/fall10/pg1.html

Tissue engineering research at Brown

Codirector of Brown University’s Center for Biomedical Engineering, Jeff Morgan leads a team of scientists who have developed novel ways of forming individual cells into living tissue. Some day, their techniques, in combination with stem-cell technology, could cure or lessen the suffering of diabetes and other debilitating diseases.

Strictly speaking, Morgan is a tissue engineer –– one of a substantial number of scientists around the world who are learning how to create groupings of cells that mimic the function of tissues or organs. Formed in the laboratory, these tissues can be transplanted into living creatures. Research is still largely confined to experimental animals –– but success so far in mice and rats holds great promise for humans.

Morgan’s advance is his unique method of growing and assembling individual cells into larger clusters –– what he calls the potential “building blocks” of tissues and organs that could be produced on demand.

More from the Providence Journal here:
http://www.projo.com/news/content/tissue_man_08-03-09_O4F81UM_v10.3b3bef6.html