Nanotechnology Commons^™

Elucidating The Effects Of Metabolic State On Nanoparticle Distribution In Mice And In Vitro Uptake, Kevin James Quigley

Doctoral Dissertations

Since almost 70% of the U.S. population over 20 years old is overweight and 30% is obese, with much of the western world following suit, many patients that will potentially be administered circulating nanoparticles designed to localize to tumors and avoid non-target areas will have significant amounts of white adipose tissue (WAT), enlarged livers, and additional metabolic complications such as type 2 diabetes. However, studies on nanoparticle biodistribution and efficacy take place almost without exception in lean rodents with healthy metabolic states. In this work, I determined the biodistribution of model nanoparticles – neutral filomicelles and polystyrene spheres both carrying …

Mechanism Of Interaction Of Peptide Modified Nanoparticles With Porphyromonas Gingivalis., Ankita Jain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies suggest that P. gingivalis functions as a keystone pathogen and interacts with primary colonizers in the supragingival biofilm such as S. gordonii. This interaction contributes to the initial colonization of the oral cavity by P. gingivalis and thus represents a potential target for therapeutic intervention. We have identified a peptide (BAR) derived from the streptococcal SspB protein that functions to inhibit P. gingivalis adherence to S. gordonii. In addition, we showed that nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with BAR inhibit this interaction more potently than free soluble peptide, possibly by promoting interaction with P. gingivalis at higher valency than …

Ginseng Polysaccharides Nanoparticles - Synthesis, Characterization, And Biological Activity, Kazi Farida Akhter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

North American (NA) ginseng is a widely used medicinal plant. Polysaccharides (PS), the major medicinal fractions derived from NA ginseng root, have been shown several biological activities including anti-carcinogenic, anti-aging, immunostimulatory and antioxidant activity. This work focused on nanoprocessing of ginseng PS for enhancing their immunostimulation. Herein, we have developed a novel microfluidic approach to synthesize ginseng PS nanoparticles (NPs) from NA ginseng root. The microfluidics was found to provide unimodal PS spheres down to 20 nm with very narrow particle size distributions. In addition, the immunostimulating effect was investigated on Murine macrophage cell lines, with the results revealing an …

Assembly Of Nucleic Acid-Based Nanoparticles By Gas-Liquid Segmented Flow Microfluidics, Matthew L. Capek, Ross Verheul, David H. Thompson

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The development of novel and efficient mixing methods is important for optimizing the efficiency of many biological and chemical processes. Tuning the physical and performance properties of nucleic acid-based nanoparticles is one such example known to be strongly affected by mixing efficiency. The characteristics of DNA nanoparticles (such as size, polydispersity, ζ-potential, and gel shift) are important to ensure their therapeutic potency, and new methods to optimize these characteristics are of significant importance to achieve the highest efficacy. In the present study, a simple segmented flow microfluidics system has been developed to augment mixing of pDNA/bPEI nanoparticles. This DNA and …

Gene Delivery Using Calcium Phosphate Nanoparticles: Optimization Of The Transfection Process And The Effects Of Citrate And Poly(L-Lysine) As Additives, Mohammed A. Khan, Victoria M. Wu, Shreya Ghosh, Vuk Uskoković

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Despite the long history of nanoparticulate calcium phosphate (CaP) as a non-viral transfection agent, there has been limited success in attempts to optimize its properties for transfection comparable in efficiency to that of viral vectors. Here we focus on the optimization of: (a) CaP nanoparticle precipitation conditions, predominantly supersaturation and Ca/P molar ratios; (b) transfection conditions, mainly the concentrations of the carrier and plasmid DNA; (c) the presence of surface additives, including citrate anion and cationic poly(l-lysine) (PLL). CaP nanoparticles significantly improved transfection with plasmid DNA encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) in pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells compared to a commercial …

Micronutrient Foliar Analysis And Supplementation In Nutrient Management For High Yield Maize (Zea Mays L.), Zachary P. Stewart

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Micronutrient supplementation in maize production is of growing interest to producers and agronomists as means to further increase yield as other crop needs are increasingly met. Plant tissue and soil sampling for micronutrient concentrations have been used to determine likely responses to micronutrient supplementation. Nebraska soils are generally micronutrient sufficient and usually do not have soil or plant tissue micronutrient concentrations below critical levels, however, during precise periods where specific micronutrients are in greatest need due to physiological demands, there may be opportunity for micronutrient supplementation to increase grain yield. The compiled chapters indicate that in most scenarios in Nebraska, …

Cancer Nanotheranostics: What Have We Learned So Far?, Joao Conde, Furong Tian, Jesus M. De La Fuente, Pedro V. Baptista

Articles

After a quarter of century of rapid technological advances, research has revealed the complexity of cancer, a disease intimately related to the dynamic transformation of the genome. However, the full understanding of the molecular onset of this disease is still far from achieved and the search for mechanisms of treatment will follow closely.

It is here that Nanotechnology enters the fray offering a wealth of tools to diagnose and treat cancer. Today, Nanotechnology is a burgeoning field that is helping to address critical global problems from cancer treatment to climate change. In fact, Nanotechnology is everywhere and is everyday practice …