Swiss army knife

Gold Nan particles have been used by researchers at the University of Washington (UW) to create the first multi-ship nanotechnology tools for use in medical imaging and therapy.

Dr. Xiaohu Gao and Dr. Yong Dong Jin began to develop its nanotechnology Swiss Army knife to exploit the advantages of Nan particles used to deliver medicine and cell therapy and quantum dots, as fluorescent balls of semiconductor material developed for medical imaging.

Earlier attempts to combine quantum dots and gold nano-particles in a particle have been unsuccessful, because their electric fields interfere with each other.

UW team got around this by building a golden egg with quantum dot in the center surrounded by polymer and encapsulated in a shell of gold Nan particles. Separation eliminates electric field interference, but the gold shell is still thin enough to allow half of the dot's fluorescence can pass through.

Dr. Gao said gold shells can be used to attach biological molecules to target tumor cells, while the quantum dot could be used in fluorescent imaging.

Additionally, because gold biocompatible, it has already been medically approved and can be used in a container for Nan particles to be used in the body, he added.

Dr. Gao running UW's Lab, which specializes in research on targeted drug delivery, molecular diagnostics, and nano-science and engineering.