The absolute yield of hydroxyl radicals per unit of deposited X-ray energy is determined for the first time for irradiated aqueous solutions containing metal nanoparticles based on a "reference" protocol. Measurements are made as a function of dose rate and nanoparticle concentration. Possible mechanisms for hydroxyl radical production are considered in turn: energy deposition in the nanopartic...

UNLABELLED When antisense oligomers are intracellular, they migrate to and are retained in the nucleus of tumor cells and therefore may be used to carry Auger electron-emitting radionuclides such as (111)In for effective tumor radiotherapy. METHODS Our nanoparticle consists of streptavidin that links 3 biotinylated components: the antiHer2 antibody trastuzumab (to improve pharmacokinetics), t...

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are promising drug delivery agents; however, their interaction with various in vivo biological components is still under investigation. In this work, the impact of sub-50 nm diameter mesoporous silica nanoparticles on platelet function is investigated using a microfluidic platform to model blood vessel characteristics. Platelet adhesion and aggregation in the pre...

Biofilms are a common constituent of the subsurface and are known to influence contaminant transport; however only a few studies to date have addressed microbial controls on nanoparticle mobility in porous media. The impact of a 3-day Pantoea agglomerans biofilm on the mobility of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles was studied in column experiments containing sand and glass beads at near-neutral pH...

Targeted nanoparticles have the potential to deliver a large drug payload specifically to cancer cells. Targeting requires that a ligand on the nanoparticle surface interact with a specific membrane receptor on target cells. However, the contribution of the targeting ligand to nanoparticle delivery is often influenced by non-specific nanoparticle uptake or secondary targeting mechanisms. In thi...

The use of nanomaterials in bioapplications demands a detailed understanding of protein-nanoparticle interactions. Proteins can undergo conformational changes while adsorbing onto nanoparticles, but studies on the impact of particle size on conformational changes are scarce. We have shown that conformational changes happening upon adsorption of myoglobin and BSA are dependent on the size of the...

Pt activated SnO2 nanoparticle clusters were synthesized by a simple solvothermal method. The structure, morphology, chemical state and specific surface area were analyzed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N2-sorption studies, respectively. The SnO2 nanoparticle cluster matrix consists of tens of thousands of Sn...

The superatom model for nanoparticle structure is shown to be inadequate for the prediction of the thermodynamic stability of gold nanoparticles. The observed large HOMO-LUMO gaps for stable nanoparticles predicted by this model are, for sulfur-stabilized gold nanoparticles, attributed to covalent interactions of the metal with thiyl adsorbate radicals rather than ionic interactions with thiola...

Presently, nanotechnology is a multi-trillion dollar business sector that covers a wide range of industries, such as medicine, electronics and chemistry. In the current era, the commercial transition of nanotechnology from research level to industrial level is stimulating the world's total economic growth. However, commercialization of nanoparticles might offer possible risks once they are libe...

The controlled organization of nanoparticle (NP) constituents into superstructures of well-defined shape, composition and connectivity represents a continuing challenge in the development of novel hybrid materials for many technological applications. We show that the phase separation of polymer-tethered nanoparticles immersed in a chemically different polymer matrix provides an effective and sc...