Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines are a prime example of the promising field of nanomedicine. But progress in the design and application of nanoparticles as efficient delivery vehicles for biopharmaceutics containing nucleic acid or protein drug substances is, unfortunately, remarkably slow. One recent obstacle to drug...
Novel nanoparticle SARS-CoV-2 vaccine combines immune focusing and self-assembling nanoparticles to elicit more potent protection
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The first generation of COVID-19 vaccines have been highly effective, but also have limitations: their efficacy can wane without a booster shot, and they may be less effective against some variants. Now scientists at The Wistar Institute have developed a more targeted vaccine that, in...
Artificial intelligence system rapidly predicts how two proteins will attach
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Antibodies, small proteins produced by the immune system, can attach to specific parts of a virus to neutralize it. As scientists continue to battle SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, one possible weapon is a synthetic antibody that binds with the virus’ spike proteins to...
Engineering a multi-element atomic arrangement
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) For the first time, a research group at the University of Maryland (UMD) has demonstrated the single phase nanoscale multi-principal element intermetallics (MPEIs) with up to 8 different metals – completely devoid of particle growth, or phase separation - via a novel multi-element disorder-to-order strategy....
Complex three-dimensional kidney tissue generated in the lab from scratch
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Kumamoto University researchers have created complex 3D kidney tissue in the lab solely from cultured mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells ("Generation of the organotypic kidney structure by integrating pluripotent stem cell-derived renal stroma"). These organoids could lead the way to better kidney research and, eventually,...
researchers unveil the excellent heat dissipation properties of layered semiconductors down to the monolayer
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The increasing demand for extremely small components and devices has led scientists to search for new materials that could best meet these needs. Two-dimensional layered materials (2D materials) – which can be as thin as one or a few atomic layers and are strongly bonded...
Even dying stars can still give birth to planets
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Planets such as Earth, and all other planets in our solar system, were formed not long after the Sun. Our Sun started to burn 4.6 billion years ago, and in the next million years, the matter around it clumped into protoplanets. The birth of the...