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Category: nanotechnology

Supramolecular nanofibers paired with nanohole substrate improve exciton transport in organic solid

Self-assembling, anthracene-based supramolecular nanofibers can enable excitons to migrate hundreds of nanometers, according to a new experimental finding by researchers at Science Tokyo. Coupling these nanofibers with a plasmonic gold nanohole substrate further doubles exciton diffusivity. By mitigating the limited diffusivity of singlet excitons in organic semiconductors, this approach offers a new strategy for improving optoelectronic technologies.

For decades, one of the biggest challenges in organic optoelectronics has been the limited diffusivity of excitons. Created when light is absorbed, excitons diffuse through the semiconducting material before they can dissociate into free charge carriers to generate electricity. However, excitons in conventional organic semiconductors typically diffuse only up to 5–20 nm before recombining, limiting the performance of optoelectronic devices.

Now, researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) in Japan have managed to overcome this long-standing limitation by combining molecular self-assembly with plasmonic nanotechnology. The breakthrough comes from a study conducted by a collaborative research team comprising Professor Martin Vacha and Associate Professor Yoshimitsu Sagara from Science Tokyo and Dr. Takatoshi Fujita from the National Institute for Quantum Science and Technology in Japan. The findings are published in the journal Nano Letters.

Scientists ‘see’ nanoscale forces, providing evidence of electric fields at the air‑water interface

Bubbles are round, and we know surface tension does that. But squeeze that gas-liquid boundary into a space only a few tens of nanometers wide—could other forces be at work?

Now, an international team from Kyushu University, Nankai University, Stanford University and the University of Alberta has taken a direct look. Publishing on July 14 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they combined three-dimensional transmission electron microscopy (3D TEM) with force analysis to provide evidence for a powerful electric field at nanoconfined air-water interfaces.

“Water looks simple, but it’s actually incredibly complex,” says Qin-Yi Li, associate professor at Kyushu University’s Faculty of Engineering. “Its structure is especially rich at the water-air interface, and it shifts dramatically with scale.”

3Dprinted devices could streamline the production of drugdelivery microparticles

MIT researchers have demonstrated a low-cost design of specialized electronic nozzles, called triaxial electrospray emitters, that could be used to manufacture time-release drug-delivery particles or self-healing materials efficiently and at scale.

Triaxial electrospray emitters use electricity to precisely dispense three liquids from microscopic nozzles to generate a steady stream with three distinct fluid layers. The liquid forms multilayered droplets, which can solidify into layered microparticles.

For instance, an array of triaxial electrospray emitters can be used to make three-layer drug-delivery nanoparticles. The outer layer might slowly erode in the stomach, revealing a second material that controls the release of a core material, which delivers medicine to a specific area of the intestines.

Scientists Steer Infrared Light Through an “Invisible” Waveguide

The discovery could advance integrated photonics, on-chip optical signal transmission, and future quantum technologies.

A nanoscale gold antenna placed on a crystal can send infrared light along one narrow route, even though no physical waveguide has been carved into the material.

Researchers at the 4th Physics Institute of the University of Stuttgart and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Milan demonstrated this mechanism in a naturally hyperbolic van der Waals material. The result could support integrated photonics, optical communication on chips, and future quantum technologies.

Protein-like nanoparticles sort themselves inside growing crystals, enabling controlled release

The tiny bones in your fingers withstand countless taps and swipes thanks to a precise blend of materials. Flexible collagen fibers form the framework, reinforced by hard calcium phosphate hydroxyapatite crystals. This is just one of countless examples in which living organisms weave organic materials directly into inorganic crystals with exquisite precision. In a recent study published in Nature Communications, scientists attempted to recreate such precise spatial arrangements in biomimetic composite materials.

The researchers made two types of tiny diblock copolymer nanoparticles designed to mimic pseudo-proteins. The first consisted of solid spheres about 100 nanometers big, with a poly(benzyl methacrylate) core and a shell of sulfate-containing chains tagged with a red fluorescent dye. The second consisted of hollow, bubble-like particles about 300 nanometers across. They had the same polymer core but a carboxylate-rich outer shell tagged with a green fluorescent dye.

These tiny polymer nanoparticles, engineered with different sizes and compositions, much like protein molecules, sorted themselves naturally as growing calcite crystals trapped them. Instead of mixing randomly, the two types ended up in separate regions of the crystal, creating an artificial biomineral with a distinctly organized structure—all driven by differences in the nanoparticles’ surface chemistry.

Encapsulation of AAVs into Protein Vault Nanoparticles as a Novel Solution to Gene Therapy’s Neutralizing Antibody Problem

My vaultAAV gene therapy invention for circumventing preexisting anti-AAV immunity has been published in ACS Synthetic Biology! This technology was the basis for my first company, Cathedral Therapeutics![Cathedral was acquired in 2025, now I’m an advisor and board member]. You can read the Open Access paper at this link https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.6c00512

Additionally, here is Cathedral’s new (post-acquisition) website for those interested: https://www.cathedraltx.com/

Thank you to everyone who helped along the way. I’d particularly like to extend special gratitude to my mentor David T. Curiel!

Abstract. Although adeno-associated virus (AAV) has enjoyed enormous success as a delivery modality for gene therapy, it suffers from high prevalence of preexisting neutralizing antibodies in human populations, limiting who can receive potentially life-saving treatments. As a novel solution to this issue, we employed SpyTag-SpyCatcher molecular glue technology to facilitate packaging of AAVs inside of recombinant protein vault nanoparticles. Vaults are endogenous particles produced by mammalian cells. We therefore hypothesized that they may shield packaged molecules from neutralizing antibodies. Vaults have previously been utilized to deliver drugs and proteins into cells, but our study represents the first time anyone has packaged an entire virus inside of a vault. We showed that our vaultAAV delivery vehicle transduces cells in the presence of anti-AAV neutralizing serum. VaultAAV is positioned as a new gene therapy delivery platform with potential to overcome the neutralizing antibody problem, expanding the scope of AAV treatments.

CRISPR roadblocks: Scientists identify genes blocking gene therapy success

Like a delivery driver navigating crowded city streets, a gene-therapy-toting lipid nanoparticle faces a gauntlet of potential detours on its journey toward a cell’s nucleus. First, there’s entering the cell’s plasma membrane; then navigating around organelles like the Golgi apparatus, mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum—all destinations that can errantly absorb the particle’s payload, rendering it ineffective at best or harmful at worst. And that’s all before the particle even enters the nucleus and successfully makes a genetic change.

Could the Next Brain Interface Get Sprayed Up Your Nose?

A brain computer interface (BCI) is any technology that allows you to connect your 3 pounds of wetware to a computer. But instead of implanting electrodes via neurosurgery, might the next revolution in BCIs come from something very small, like nanoparticles? Would this allow us to spy on millions (or billions) of neurons talking at once — and could we do so without opening the skull? Will this allow BCI tech to become as common as smartphones? Join Eagleman as he talks with Tetiana Aleksandrova and Scott Meek from the company Subsense about why the next brain-computer interface might come from thinking small.

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Negative imaginary theory moves from math niche to robots, aircraft and nanodevices

Over the past two decades, a powerful but highly specialized branch of control engineering—known as negative imaginary (NI) systems theory—has quietly evolved into a key tool for stabilizing complex, vibration-prone systems, from flexible structures to advanced robotics.

Now, a new study reveals how fast and in what direction this field is growing. By analyzing more than 400 scientific publications from 2004 to 2024 across the world’s leading academic databases, the researchers uncovered a clear trend: NI systems are no longer just a theoretical concept. The work is published in the International Journal of Systems Science.

The field is expanding rapidly, with increasing global participation and a strong shift toward real-world applications such as multi-robot coordination, aerospace systems and nanotechnology.

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