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Category: nanotechnology – Page 2

A nanoscale robotic cleaner can hunt, capture and remove bacteria

Tiny robots—around 50 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair—open up fascinating possibilities: they enable the controlled manipulation of objects far too small for human hands. This brings us closer to a long-standing dream—the direct interaction with the microscopic world.

Particularly relevant are biological objects in aqueous environments, such as single cells or bacteria. Handling such objects in a controlled and targeted way has remained a major challenge.

A team of researchers have demonstrated how such microscopic cleaners can be employed and precisely controlled. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. The nanorobots presented demonstrate that controlled manipulation, including collection and relocation of bacteria, is already achievable.

One DNA letter can trigger complete sex reversal

Researchers at Bar-Ilan University have discovered that changing just one letter in DNA can completely alter sex development in mice. In the new study, published in Nature Communications, a single-letter insertion in a non-coding regulatory region caused XX mice, which would normally develop as females, to develop instead as males with testis and male genitalia.

The finding is especially striking because the mutation was not made in a gene itself, but in a distant stretch of DNA that helps control a key developmental gene. The study highlights the major role of the non-coding genome —the 98% of DNA that does not make proteins but helps regulate when and how genes are turned on and off.

“This is a remarkable finding because such a tiny change—just one DNA letter out of approximately 2.8 billion—was enough to produce a dramatic developmental outcome,” said Dr. Nitzan Gonen, from the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Bar-Ilan University. “It shows that non-coding DNA can have a profound effect on development and disease.”

Scientists turn ‘mess’ into breakthrough: Chaotic design unlocks next-generation optical devices

Researchers from the Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy have flipped a long-held assumption in optics, showing that deliberately introducing controlled disorder into ultra-thin optical devices can dramatically increase their power and versatility, without making them bigger or more complex.

Published in Nature Communications, the study reveals a new class of “disordered mosaic metasurfaces” nanostructured materials that manipulate light, capable of performing multiple optical functions simultaneously within a single device.

At the center of the breakthrough is a counterintuitive idea: instead of carefully arranging structures in perfect order, the team scattered them in a controlled, mosaic-like pattern, and found that performance didn’t degrade. In fact, it improved.

Cuproptosis in cancer: emerging mechanism and therapeutic opportunities

Cuproptosis mechanism in cancer!

As a copper-dependent regulated form of cell death, cuproptosis is critically important for developing targeted cancer therapies and overcoming drug resistance.

A multidimensional framework deciphers the physiological regulation of copper homeostasis, including hepatocentric organ-level regulation, organelle-specific cellular storage and transport, and iron– copper–zinc ion crosstalk.

Cuproptosis is mainly regulated by core cuproptosis proteins, mitochondrial respiratory function, and cellular copper homeostasis.

By depleting glutathione (GSH), alleviating hypoxia, modulating immunity, and enabling multimodal synergy, innovative copper-based nanomaterials enhance copper ion delivery and cytotoxicity, resulting in potent antitumor effects. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/Cuproptosis-in-cancer

Cuproptosis is a mitochondria-and copper-dependent regulated form of cell death that has attracted growing interest as a therapeutic strategy in oncology. Its core mechanism involves the aggregation of lipoylated proteins in the tricarboxylic acid cycle to trigger proteotoxic stress and the destabilization of iron–sulfur cluster proteins, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. These two effects synergize to initiate this regulated form of cell death. Recent studies have expanded this framework, revealing multilayered regulation through the core proteins of cuproptosis, mitochondrial respiratory function, and cellular copper homeostasis. Translational efforts have led to the development of copper-based therapeutics, including ionophores and nanomaterials. The utilization of smart-responsive nanomaterials also offers improved precision in tumor delivery and resistance circumvention.

Continue reading “Cuproptosis in cancer: emerging mechanism and therapeutic opportunities” | >

Scripps Research scientists uncover new mechanism cancer cells use to survive DNA damage

LA JOLLA, CA— A cancer drug target already being investigated in clinical trials turns out to be doing something even more consequential than researchers realized. Scientists at Scripps Research have discovered that the enzyme Pol theta (Polθ) drives a DNA repair mechanism directly at broken replication forks—one of the most frequent forms of DNA damage in cancer cells. The findings, published in Molecular Cell on March 16, 2026, help explain how tumors survive relentless replication stress and clarify why Pol theta inhibitors may be an effective strategy to selectively target cancer.

“We’ve uncovered a whole new dimension of how cancer cells cope with DNA damage at replication forks,” says Xiaohua Wu, professor at Scripps Research and senior author of the study.

Every time a cell divides, it must make an exact copy of its entire genome, a process carried out by molecular machinery that unzips the DNA double helix and reads each strand to build a new one. The point where this unzipping and copying actively happens is called a replication fork. But when this replication machinery encounters damage, forks can stall or collapse, leaving behind dangerous one-ended DNA breaks that are particularly difficult to repair and, if left unresolved, can kill the cell. This is particularly true in cancer cells, where replication stress is constant.

Carbon nanotube fiber sensors achieve record measurement error below 0.1%

Skoltech scientists, in collaboration with colleagues from China and Iran, have taken a major step toward creating highly precise carbon nanotube fiber (CNTF)-based sensors. In a paper published in the iScience journal, the authors, for the first time, quantitatively assessed the accuracy of CNTF sensors for dual-stage, i.e., manufacturing and post-manufacturing monitoring of epoxy-based polymer nanocomposites with dispersed CNTs.

The researchers emphasize that this development paves the way for creating a cutting-edge carbon-based material for high-precision and real-time sensing applications.

Existing monitoring sensors, such as fiber optics or piezoelectric sensors, are not suitable for the dual-stage monitoring of polymer composite materials. Additionally, embedding them into the composite structure often leads to deterioration in the mechanical properties of ready-made materials, making it more vulnerable to failure.

Selectively eliminating old, damaged fat cells

A team from The University of Texas at Austin reviews recent advances in dilute noble metal films for infrared optics and plasmonics: https://bit.ly/4s9XHKR

To address a growing need for a sub-wavelength and nanophotonic optical infrastructure to support quantum applications, dilute noble metals provide a high-optical-quality approach for nanophotonics at long wavelengths.

With further research, their potential applications can even include mid-IR sensing, optoelectronics, and quantum photonics at long wavelengths.

The infrared optical response of noble metals is traditionally considered perfect electrical conductor (PEC)-like due to the noble metals’ exceptionally large electron concentrations, and thus large (and negative) real permittivity. While PEC-like behavior is ideal for a broad range of applications, for instance mirrors, gratings, and wavelength-(and macro-) scale resonators and antennas, the utility of noble metals for nanoscale (sub-diffraction-limit) physics at long wavelengths is limited. However, in ultra-low volume (dilute) metal films, such as those with nanometer-scale thicknesses or lithographic dilution (subwavelength perforation), the thin films’ sheet conductivity is massively reduced, enabling light to penetrate and interact with the films much more efficiently. This avails the infrared of a host of opportunities for noble-metal-based plasmonics, with the potential for nanoscale (deep subwavelength) confinement and strong light-matter interaction, otherwise prohibited with noble metals in this wavelength range. In this perspective, we review the recent advances in dilute metal films for near-and mid-infrared photonics and plasmonics, and discuss the advantageous properties of these optical thin films for potential applications in sensors, detectors, sources, and nonlinear and quantum optics.

Sound-sensing hair bundles in our ears act as tiny thermodynamic machines

The hair cells lining the inner ear are among the most sophisticated structures in the human body: capable of detecting sounds as faint as a whisper, while helping to maintain our sense of balance. Through new models detailed in PRX Life, a team led by Roman Belousov at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory has revealed for the first time how oscillating bundles attached to these cells operate in different thermodynamic regimes—offering a new framework for understanding how our hearing works at a fundamental level.

Within the inner ear, each hair cell hosts a hair “bundle”: a cluster of tiny, bristle-like projections that vibrate in response to incoming sound waves. The mechanical energy from these oscillations is then converted into electrical signals which travel to the brain. Rather than being passive receivers, these bundles actively oscillate —driven by molecular motors within the cell that allow them to amplify faint signals and tune in to specific frequencies.

But despite decades of study, researchers are still unclear on the connection between this active oscillation and the hair bundle’s response to external sound. Existing models tended to treat bundles as if they were moving spontaneously, without accounting for what happens when they actually interact with sound.

A nanoparticle therapy to treat lung cancer and associated muscle wasting at the same time

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a technique for simultaneously treating lung cancer and a serious muscle-wasting condition that often accompanies it. The study, published in the Journal of Controlled Release, involves lipid nanoparticles delivering therapeutic genetic material to lung tumors.

In a mouse model, scientists led by Oleh Taraula and Yoon Tae Goo of the OSU College of Pharmacy showed that a type of nanocarrier loaded with follistatin messenger RNA is able to accumulate in tumors. Once there, the mRNA triggers cells to produce the follistatin protein, which plays a key role both in inhibiting tumors and promoting muscle tissue growth.

The lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, can be administered intravenously and reach the lungs courtesy of another protein, vitronectin, that’s found in blood serum. Lipids are fatty acids and similar organic compounds, including many natural oils and waxes. Nanoparticles are tiny pieces of material ranging in size from one-to 100-billionths of a meter.

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