MIT scientists have devised remotely controlled nanoparticles that, when pulsed with an electromagnetic field, release drugs to attack tumors. The innovation, reported in the Nov. 15 online issue of Advanced Materials, could lead to the improved diagnosis and targeted treatment of cancer.

In 2002, U.S. farmers harvested 2.7 billion bushels of soybeans. Last year in Missouri, farmers harvested 194 million bushels of soybeans worth about $1.2 billion. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia is turning those soybeans into gold, with nothing more than a little water.

Some nanotechnology fanciers suggest that, like proverbial birds of a feather, engineered nanoscale materials will flock – or clump – together. This tendency, they maintain, should reduce or eliminate risks as nanotechnology manufacturing increases and the number of nanotechnology-enabled products grows.

There are two aspects to creating an effective drug: finding a chemical compound that has the desired biological effect and minimal side-effects and then delivering it to the right place in the body for it to do its job.

Good news for public health: Bioengineering researchers from the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed and patented a nanoparticle that can deliver vaccines more effectively, with fewer side effects, and at a fraction of the cost of current vaccine technologies.

Rice University chemists have discovered a way to load dozens of molecules of the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel onto tiny gold spheres. The result is a tiny ball, many times smaller than a living cell that literally bristles with the drug.

Using DNA, the molecule that carries life's genetic instructions, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory are studying how to control both the speed of nanoparticle assembly and the structure of its resulting nanoclusters.

Placing a film of silicon nanoparticles onto a silicon solar cell can boost power, reduce heat and prolong the cell’s life, researchers now report.

Clemson University chemists have developed a method to dramatically improve the longevity of fluorescent nanoparticles that may someday help researchers track the motion of a single molecule as it travels through a living cell.

Most people think of hydrogen peroxide as a topical germ killer, but the medicine cabinet staple is gaining steam in the medical community as an early indicator of disease in the body.

Findings by a team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee bode well for using single-walled carbon nanohorns, a particular form of engineered carbon-based nanoparticles, for drug delivery and other commercial applications.

In a study that eases concern about the toxicity of nanoparticles being considered for use in medical imaging and biomedical research, scientists in North Dakota are reporting “no significant toxic effects” from tests of silica nanoparticles.