GDA 2014 Honoree: Dr. Omid Farokhzad Wall Street Journal Interview Cellular Surgeons: New Era of Nanomedicine New York Academy of Sciences Event ecancertv: Polymeric Nanoparticles for Medical Applications Our Research

Nanotechnology has generated a significant impact in nearly every aspect of science. Our research seeks novel nanomaterials and nanotechnologies in order to develop advanced drug delivery systems with the promise to improve health care. Highly interdisciplinary and translational, our research is focused on multifunctional, nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems. We seek to improve nanoparticle synthesis and formulation and its therapeutic efficacy. Additionally, we develop robust engineering processes to accelerate translation of nanoparticle-based drugs into the drug development pipeline. At the same time, we emphasize a fundamental understanding of the interface between nanomaterials and biological systems. Read our recent reviews below:

See below for some of our selected research articles. Click on images for more detail:

Transepithelial transport of fc-targeted nanoparticles by the neonatal fc receptor for oral delivery:

A study on the immunocompatibility properties of lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles with heterogeneous surface functional groups:

Engineering of targeted nanoparticles for cancer therapy using internalizing aptamers isolated by cell-uptake selection:

Synthesis of Size-Tunable Polymeric Nanoparticles Enabled by 3D Hydrodynamic Flow Focusing in Single-Layer Microchannels:

Effects of ligands with different water solubilities on self-assembly and properties of targeted nanoparticles:

Development of poly(ethylene glycol) with observable shedding:

Congratulations to Nazila Kamaly for her appointment as an Associate Professor at Technical University of Denmark (01/01/16)

Congratulations to Jun Wu for his appointment as a Professor at Sun Yat-sen University, China (01/01/16)

Congratulations to Christian Vilos for securing the Chilean Grant (Fondecyt)! (01/30/16)

Congratulations to Naomi Morales-Medina for securing an undergraduate National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Fellowship for minorities in STEM fields! (10/19/15)

Congratulations to Christian Vilos for his promotion to Associate Professor at Center for Integrative Medicine and Innovative Science (CIMIS) in Faculty of Medicine in Andres Bello University! (09/10/15)

Congratulations to Won Il Choi for securing a Senior Researcher position at the Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology! (09/10/15)

Congratulations to Jining Huang for getting admission in the Bioengineering PhD Program at Caltech. (03/24/15)

Welcome Dr. Sejin Son to join our team! (10/31/14)

Welcome Dr. Dmitry Shvartsman to join our team! (09/19/14)

Welcome Dr. Harshal Zope to join our team! (06/15/14)

Welcome Dr Yanlan Liu, Dr. Xiaoding Xu and Dr. Arif Islam to join our team! (03/12/14)

Welcome Dr. Basit Yameen to join our team! (09/09/2013)

Congratulations to Dr. Archana Swami for her poster prize at the MIT Polymer Day Symposium! (05/02/2013)

Welcome Dr. Mikyung Yu, Dr. In-hyun Lee, Dr. Won IL Choi, Dr. Renata Leito and Dr. Cristian Vilos to join our team! (05/02/2013)

Congratulations to Dr. Archana Swami for receiving an 'Outstanding Paper' award from the ASME at NEMB2013! (31/01/2013)

Welcome Dr. Giuseppe Palmisano to join our team! (04/01/12)

Congratulations to Steffi Sunny for securing a PhD position on the Applied Science and Engineering PhD program at Harvard University! (04/01/12)

Congratulations to Shrey Sindhwani for securing a Physician Scientist Training Program (MD-PhD) position at the University of Toronto! (04/01/12)

Congratulations to Dr. Xiaoyang Xu on the award of his National Cancer Institute funded Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Post-doctoral Fellowship! (01/03/2012)

Congratulations to Dr. Jinjun Shi on the award of his National Cancer Institute K99/R00 Career Award! (11/30/2011)

Congratulations to Dr. Jinjun Shi for his BWH Biomedical Research Institute award! (11/10/2011)

Welcome Dr. Nazila Kamaly to join our team! (01/25/2011)

Welcome Dr. Jun Wu, Dr. Xueqing Zhang and Changwei Ji to join our team! (11/15/2010)

Welcome Dr. Suresh Gadde to join our team! (12/15/2009)

Welcome Dr. Xiaoyang Xu to join our team! (10/19/09)

Welcome Dr. Archana Mukherjee to join our team! (08/19/09)

Immunocompatibility properties of lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles with heterogeneous surface functional groups, Salvador-Morales C, Zhang L, Langer et al, Biomaterials, 30 (2009) 2231.

Engineering of targeted nanoparticles for cancer therapy using internalizing aptamers isolated by cell-uptake selection, Xiao Z, Levy-Nissenbaum E, Alexis F et al, ACS Nano, 6 (2012) 696.

Synthesis of size-tunable polymeric nanoparticles enabled by 3D hydrodynamic flow focusing in single-layer microchannels., Rhee M, Valencia M, Rodriguez MI et al, Advanced Materials, 23 (2011) H79.

Effects of ligands with different water solubilities on self-assembly and properties of targeted nanoparticles, Valencia PM, Hanewich-Hollatz MH, Gao W et al, Biomaterials, 23 (2011) 6226.

Poly (ethylene glycol) with Observabel Shedding, Valencia PM, Hanewich-Hollatz MH, Gao W et al, , 23 (2010) 6567.

Preclinical Development and Clinical Translation of a PSMA-Targeted Docetaxel Nanoparticle with a Differentiated Pharmacological Profile, Hrkach J, Von Hoff D, Ali MM et al, Science Translational Medicine, 4 (2012) 128ra39.

Targeted polymeric therapeutic nanoparticles: design, development and clinical translation, N Kamaly, Z Xiao, P Valencia et alChem. Soc. Rev, 41 (2012) 2971.

Precise engineering of targeted nanoparticles by using self-assembled biointegrated block copolymers, F. Gu, L. Zhang, B. A. Teply et alPNAS, 105 (2008) 2586.

Quantum dot-aptamer conjugates for synchronous cancer imaging, therapy, and sensing of drug delivery based on bi-fluorescence resonance energy transfer, V Bagalkot, L Zhang, E Levy-Nissenbaum et alNano Lett., 7 (2007) 3065.

Targeted nanoparticle-aptamer bioconjugates for cancer chemotherapy in vivo, O. Farokhzad, J. Cheng, B. A. Teply, et al PNAS, 103 (2006) 6315.

Read more:

Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials

CLINAM 9 / 2016 Conference and Exhibition

European & Global Summit for Cutting-Edge Medicine

June 26 29, 2016

Clinical Nanomedicine and Targeted Medicine

Enabling Technologies for Personalized Medicine

Conference Venue: Congress Center, Messeplatz 21, 4058 Basel, Switzerland, Phone +41 58 206 28 28, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Organizers Office:CLINAMFoundation, Alemannengasse 12, P.B. 4016 Basel Phone +41 61 695 93 95, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Scientific Committee

Prof. Dr.med.PatrickHunziker, University Hospital Basel (CH) (Chairman)

Prof. Dr.med. ChristophAlexiou, UniversityHospitalErlangen(D)

Prof. Dr. Lajos Balogh, Editor-in-Chief Nanomedicine,Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine, Elsevier and Member of the Executive Board, American Society for Nanomedicine, Boston (USA)

Prof. Dr. GerdBinnig, Nobel Laureate, Munich(D)

Prof. Dr. Yechezkel Barenholz, HebrewUniversity, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem(IL)

Prof. Dr. med. Omid Farokhzad, Associate Professor and Director of Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital; Founder of BIND Therapeutics, Biosciences and Blend Therapeutics, Cambridge, Boston (USA)

Prof. Dr. med. Dong Soo Lee, PhD. Chairman Department of Nuclear Medicine Seoul National University Seoul, (KOR)

Dr. med. h.c. Beat Lffler, MA, European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine, Basel (CH)

Prof. Dr. Jan Mollenhauer, Lundbeckfonden Centerof Excellence NanoCAN, Universityof Southern Denmark, Odense (DK)

Prof. Dr. med. Marisa Papaluca Amati, European Medicines Agency, London (UK).

Prof. Dr. GertStorm, Institutefor Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, (NL)

Prof. Dr. Viola Vogel, Laboratory for Biologically Oriented Materials, ETH, Zrich (CH)

In the previous eight years, the CLINAM Summit grew to the largest in its field with 12 presenting Noble Laureates and more than 500 participants from academia, industry, regulatory authorities and policy from over 40 different countries in Europe and worldwide. With this success and broad support by well beyond 20 renowned collaborating initiatives, the CLINAM-Summit is today one of the most important marketplaces for scientific exchange and discussions of regulatory, political and ethical aspects in this field of cutting-edge medicine.

In particular, the CLINAM Summit emerged as exquisite forum for translation from bench to bedside for European and international networking, for industrial collaboration between companies, with academia, and as point-of-contact with customers. The summit is presently the only place to meet the regulatory authorities from all continents to debate the needs of all stakeholders in the field with the legislators.

CLINAM 9/2016 continues with its successful tradition to cover the manifold interdisciplinary fields of Clinical and Targeted Nanomedicine in major and neglected diseases. As special focus area, CLINAM 09/2016 adds translation and enabling technologies, including, for example, cutting-edge molecular profiling, nano-scale analytics, single cell analysis, stem cell technologies, tissue engineering, in and ex vivo systems as well as in vitro substitute systems for efficacy and toxicity testing.

CLINAM 09/2016 covers the entire interdisciplinary spectrum of Nanomedicine and Targeted Medicine from new materials with potential medical applications and enabling technologies over diagnostic and therapeutic translation to clinical applications in infectious, inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as diabetes, cancer and regenerative medicine to societal implications, strategical issues, and regulatory affairs. The conference is sub-divided into three different tracks running in parallel and provides ample possibilities for exhibitors as indicated by steadily increasing requests.

Track 1: Clinical and Targeted Nanomedicine Basic Research Disease Mechanisms and Personalized Medicine Regenerative Medicine Novel Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches Active and Passive Targeting Targeted Delivery (antibodies, affibodies, aptamers, and nano drug delivery devices) Accurin Technology Nano-Toxicology

Track 2: Clinical and Targeted Nanomedicine: Translation Unsolved Medical Problems Personalized Medicine and Theranostic Approaches Regenerative Medicine Advanced Breaking and Ongoing Clinical Trials Applied Nanomedical Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Track 3: Enabling Technologies Nanomaterial Analytics and Testing Molecular Profiling for Research and Efficacy/Toxicology Testing (Genomics, Proteomics, Glycomics, Lipidomics, Metabolomics) Functional Testing Assays and Platforms Single Cell Analyses Cell Tracking Stem Cell Biology and Engineering Technologies Microfluidics Tissue Engineering Tissues-on-a-Chip-Bioprinting In vivo Testing Novel Imaging Approaches Medical Devices

Track 4: Regulatory, Societal Affairs and Networking Regulatory Issues in Nanomedicine Strategy and Policy The Patients` Perspective Ethical Issues in Nanomedicine University Village Cutting-Edge EU-Project Presentations Networking for International Consortium Formation Regulatory Authorities Sessions

Based on last years exhibition it is expected to have about 30 Exhibitors at this Summit. Exhibitors can profit of the possibility to meet their target visitors on 1 single spot in Basel at CLINAM 9 / 2016. With its concept for the exhibition, the international CLINAM Summit becomes also the place for the pulse of the market and early sales in the field of cutting-edge medicine.

Deadline April 25, 2016 for oral Presentations Deadline for Poster Only Submission is May 15, 2016. Later submitted Posters can still be accepted but will not be included in the Summit-Proceedings. (See instruction in Folder on Page 25).

For full programme download the PDF Folder

Registration Fees (For Exhibition Pricing Look Folder, Page 25)

The European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine is a non-profit institution aiming at advancing medicine to the benefit of individuals and society through the application of nanoscience. Aiming at prevention, diagnosis, and therapy through nanomedicine as well as at exploration of its implications, the Foundation reaches its goals through support of clinically focussed research and of interaction and information flow between clinicians, researchers, the public, and other stakeholders. The recognition of the large future impact of nanoscience on medicine and the observed rapid advance of medical applications of nanoscience have been the main reasons for the creation of the Foundation.

Nanotechnology is generally considered as the key technology of the 21st century. It is an interdisciplinary scientific field focusing on methods, materials, and tools on the nanometer scale, i.e. one millionth of a millimeter. The application of this science to medicine seeks to benefit patients by providing prevention, early diagnosis, and effective treatment for prevalent, for disabling, and for currently incurable medical conditions.

Original post:

CLINAM - The Conference at a Glance

During the 1990s, we developed a composite material that resulted in a new class of antimicrobial agents with activity against grampositive bacteria and spores, fungi and viruses. These nanoemulsions are oil-in-water, nanoscale (< 600 nm) emulsions formulated with surfactants. Additional studies demonstrated that nanoemulsions are not only effective antimicrobials but potential intranasal vaccine adjuvants as well. The technology was licensed to NanoBio Corp. in 2000 for commercialization and is still a major scientific focus for the Institute.

While originally developed as microbicidal agents, studies fortuitously demonstrated that nanoemulsions are a promising new type of adjuvant for nasopharyngeal vaccines. Work was being performed to show that placing nanoemulsion into the nares of mice could protect them from subsequent respiratory challenge with an LD90 of Influenza virus. The mice were successfully protected from challenge even two hours after the material was placed into the nares. However, when challenged with live virus three weeks later, the same animals were protected from Influenza pneumonitis without nanoemulsion prophylaxis, and were shown to have high titers of anti-influenza antibodies. Subsequent studies documented that placing Influenza virus in the nares with nanoemulsion on only a single occasion produced strong protective immunity. (Myc A, Kukowska-Latallo JF, Bielinska AU, Cao P, Myc PP, Janczak K, Sturm T, Grabinski MS, Young K, Chang J, Hamouda T, Olszewski MA and Baker JR, Jr: Development of immune response that protects mice from viral pneumonitis after a single intranasal immunization with influenza A virus and nanoemulsion. Vaccine 21(25-26); 2003, 3801-3814).

Mice were vaccinated one time with nanoemulsion alone, formaldehyde-killed virus, formaldehyde-killed virus-nanoemulsion, or virus/nanoemulsion mixture. Sera were collected on day 20 of the experiment for the assessment of IgG. Antibodies levels were expressed as an index of the geometric mean +/- SD for each experimental group. P-value was calculated using Student's t-test with C-Cochran and Cox correction. Symbol (*) depicts significance (P< 0.05) between animals vaccinated with formaldehyde-killed virus/nanoemulsion versus animals vaccinated with virus/nanoemulsion.

Mice immunized intranasally with the virus/nanoemulsion mixture did not show signs of illness, and their core body temperatures were within normal range for 14 days. Moreover, the lungs of immunized animals appeared grossly normal, and histological examination showed no indication of influenza pneumonitis or upper airway inflammation. These results show that nanoemulsions can inactivate virus without causing upper or lower airway mucosal toxicity in treated animals.

As current approaches to vaccination for a number of viral agents have drawbacks due to the use of live virus, complex vaccination protocols or the addition of adjuvants unacceptable for humans, we have continued our determination whether mixing nanoemulsion with specific viral agents will provide a rapid and effective means for a killed virus vaccine for certain viral agents.

Instead of virus, we have also used purified recombinant proteins placed in the nanoemulsion to document that this mixture induced mucosal immunity and systemic TH1 responses. This was of interest, as there was no toxin or other component other than the nanoemulsion (diluted 100 fold in saline) and the recombinant protein antigen. Given the safety profile of the nanoemulsion, these findings supported the further investigation of nanoemulsions as clinically useful nasopharyngeal adjuvants for humans.

MNiMBs has been fortunate to be well funded in pursuing nanoemulsions as a mucosal vaccine adjuvant. MNiMBS Scientists are currently funded to pursue nanoemulsion based vaccines for:

Click each link for more details on specific vaccines being developed.

We have promising results for an HIV adjuvant vaccine.

MNiMBs is also in the process of developing programs for:

To learn more about nanoemulsions click here MNiMBS welcomes collaborative partners and encourages communication between groups. Those people interested in collaborating are encouraged to contact MINanotech@umich.edu for further discussion.

Read more here:

Adjuvant Vaccine Development - University of Michigan

Impact Factor: 4.239 Read, cite the journal, or submit your paper to keep contributing to the success of WIREs Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology

NanoMedicine-2013 is a dedicated event for the nanotech community and aims to offer professionals in the field a multidisciplinary platform to learn more about the latest scientific updates and industrial standards. Nanomedicine-2013 will consist of six tracks covering current advances in many aspects of nano-medicine R & D and business. The conference will consist of keynote forum, panel discussions, free communication, poster presentations and an exhibition. Through these dynamic scientific and social events, you will have many opportunities to network and to form potential business collaborations with participants from all over the world.

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Cold Spring Harbor Asia is pleased to announce the CSH Asia / ICMS (The International Cancer Microenvironment Society) Joint Conference on Tumor Microenvironment which will be held at the Suzhou Dushu Lake Conference Center in Suzhou, China. The conference will begin at 6:00pm on the evening of Tuesday November 13, and will conclude after lunch on Saturday November 17, 2012

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Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Nanomedicine and ...

The need for the discovery and development of innovative technologies to improve the delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents in the body is widely recognized. The next generation therapies must be able to deliver drugs, therapeutic proteins and recombinant DNA to focal areas of disease or to tumors to maximize clinical benefit while limiting untoward side effects. The use of nanoscale technologies to design novel drug delivery systems and devices is a rapidly developing area of biomedical research that promises breakthrough advances in therapeutics and diagnostics.

Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine (CDDN) serves to unify existing diverse technical and scientific expertise in biomedical and material science research at the University of Nebraska thereby creating a world class interdisciplinary drug delivery and nanomedicine program. This is realized by integrating established expertise in drug delivery, gene therapy, neuroscience, pathology, immunology, pharmacology, vaccine therapy, cancer biology, polymer science and nanotechnology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL) and Creighton University.

CDDNs vision is to improve health by enhancing the efficacy and safety of new and existing therapeutic agents, diagnostic agents and genes through the discovery and application of innovative methods of drug delivery and nanotechnology. CDDNs mission is to discover and apply knowledge to design, develop and evaluate novel approaches to improve the delivery of therapeutic agents, diagnostic agents and genes.

The COBRE Nebraska Center for Nanomedicine is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Science(NIGMS) grant 2P20 GM103480-07.

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Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine (CDDN)

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

IGERT HIGHLIGHT

NU IGERT Nanomedicine Program on YouTube!

Take a tour with three former IGERT trainees, Brian Plouffe, Tatyana Chernenko and Yogesh Patel, to hear about some of the outstanding research that is done in the IGERT Nanomedicine program at Northeastern.

MISSION

IGERT Nanomedicine Science and Technology is a new integrated doctoral education program in the emerging field of Nanomedicine, created with support from the National Cancer Institute and the National Science Foundation. The program aims to educate the next generation of scientists and technologists with the requisite skill sets to address scientific and engineering challenges, with the necessary business, ethical and global perspectives that will be needed in the rapidly emerging area of applying nanotechnology to human health.

The program began at Northeastern University in 2005 with an NSF IGERT grant funded through the National Cancer Institute. The success of the program has since then led to an NSF funded IGERT renewal grant for the period 2010-2015 with new partners, Tuskegee University, The University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez and collaborators at hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

The program combines the interdisciplinary expertise of world-renowned faculty members in 11 departments at 3 Universities, collaborating with researchers at teaching hospitals and industry. Students enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical/Industrial Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or Pharmaceutical Sciences (Northeastern University), Materials Science and Engineering or Integrative Biosciences (Tuskegee University), Applied Chemistry or Chemical Engineering (UPRM) may apply to the IGERT interdisciplinary program. The IGERT fellow will graduate with a Ph.D. degree in their core subject with specialization in Nanomedicine Science and Technology.

Download the IGERT Nanomedicine e-book summarizing the achievements of the Northeastern University IGERT Nanomedicine program

Originally posted here:

IGERT Nanomedicine at Northeastern University

A year-old proposal of the government to set up an advanced science research centre under the auspices of Mangalore University is on the verge of becoming a reality.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would lay the foundation stone for it at Belapu village, Udupi district on April 20, K. Byrappa, Vice-Chancellor, Mangalore University, told The Hindu .

The State government announced plans to establish the centre in its 2014-15 budget using funds from the Rashtriya Uchchatara Shikshana Abhiyana (RUSA). It was one of the two such centres announced by the government in the budget. The other one was for Bengaluru.

Of 100 acres sought by the university for setting up the centre at Belapu, the government has sanctioned 24.86 acres, of which 20 acres has been handed over to the university. The State Cabinet has approved Rs. 15 crore to the centre as first instalment for 2015-16. The university had received a letter to this effect, he said.

Mr. Byrappa said the centre would be developed on the lines of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, and Tsukuba science city, a planned city in Japan, located about 50 km from Tokyo.

Earlier, a committee of the university had submitted to the government a proposal conceptualising the facilities that would come up at the centre. It had estimated the project cost in phases at Rs. 141.38 crore.

The proposal dealt specifically on the requirement of funds, and facilities such as laboratories, hostels, administrative buildings, bank and other offices that would come up there.

Research area

The research would focus on the analysis of Western Ghats species of plants under threat and their conservation; research and development of plant extracts for identified diseases; developing medicine for communicable diseases and using nano-technology for developing devices for cancer treatment.

He said one of the major objectives of the centre would be to find out an effective medicine for controlling malaria which is rampant in Mangaluru.

Visit link:

Mangalore Universitys advanced science research centre to materialise soon

Jos Maria Abad (ES)
Jos Maria Abad talks about the important possibilities that nano materials can offer for nano medicine (drug delivery and nano sensors), and about the constant necessity to study toxicity...

By: NanoDiode

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Jos Maria Abad (ES) - Video

Polymers in Nano-medicine (treating disease)
This video is part of my independent learning project for macromolecules for my first year at the University of York studying a masters in Chemistry. It is aimed at A-level students with no...

By: Benjamin Jancso

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Polymers in Nano-medicine (treating disease) - Video

Homeopathic medicine made from venom of rattlesnake can arrest spread of HIV, researchers said at a World Homeopathy Summit in New Delhi on Saturday.

Homeopathic medicine made from venom of rattlesnake can arrest spread of HIV, researchers said at a World Homeopathy Summit in New Delhi on Saturday.

Research by doctors of Hyderabad-based JSPS Government Homeopathic Medical College and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has positively shown homeopathic medicine from snake venom, Crotalus Horridus, can arrest the multiplication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

According to Dr Praveen Kumar, Head of Department of Practice of Medicine at JSPS College, Crotalus Horridus has inhibited reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme which is utilised by viruses like HIV and Hepatitis-B to convert the viral RNA into viral DNA so that they multiply into billions and wreck patients.

The two-day summit organised by Global Homeopathy Foundation (GHF) saw gathering of scientists and practitioners from India and abroad seeking to dispel the myth and disinformation by a section that 'homeopathy is a humbug' and that it has only a placebo effect.

The Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH), a premium government body under AYUSH, is partnering with GHF for the summit at which scientists from eminent institutes of pure science such as IIT-B, ICMR, TIFR, BARC, Haffkine, and ICT also presented their study reports.

"The summit should bring about a paradigm shift in the way the world looks at homeopathy and shock even some practicing homeopaths who believed that the medicines had some energy effect," said Dr Rajesh Shah, organising secretary of the Foundation.

For years, homeopathy has been adapting the process of converting snake venom and poison from deadly scorpions, spiders and wild bees into medicinal substances by transforming them into nano-particles that have proved safe and effective for patients, Dr Shah said.

"As a virologist, I was surprised to learn that homeopathy also sources medicines from virus, bacteria and parasites, long before microbiology was fully developed," remarked Dr Abhay Chaudhary, Director Haffkine Institute, which makes polio vaccine in India.

The research by Dr Kanjaksha Ghosh of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Institute of Immuno Hematology (NIIH) and Dr Tapas Kundu, showed that homeopathy demonstrated positive results in patients of Hemophilia - a deadly blood disease that leads to uncontrolled bleeding that cannot be managed with regular medicines.

See the article here:

Homeopathic medicine from snake venom can arrest spread of HIV, claim researchers

Scientists discuss research to address medication and vaccines for diseases like cancer, AIDS, swine flu and MDR-TB at world summit

Contrary to popular belief, homeopathy is not a placebo science, said a group of eminent scientists at the World Homeopathy Summit being held in the city this weekend. It has been long believed that consuming homeopathic medicine has a psychological effect on the patient which leads to some of them getting cured. Busting this and other myths, scientists from Haffkine Institute in Parel, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Chembur, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-B) in Powai, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) shared their research at the summit, which has attracted scientists and doctors from different parts of the world including Italy, Brazil and Austria.

Critic claim that because homeopathy medicines are very highly diluted, they are merely believed to have a placebo effect. However, research by Dr Jayesh Bellare, head of department, Chemical Engineering, at IIT-B, and his team has proved that they do contain nano-particles of medicinal molecules. "While earlier it was thought that homeopathic medicines do not contain medicinal molecules, high resolution microscopes used in the IIT-B lab to observe the medicines found that the molecules do exist in nano sizes," said Dr Bellare.

Physicists at TIFR and BARC have detected the effect of energy particles in homeopathy using laser beams and electrical devices. Former BARC scientist and physicist, Dr Akalpita Paranjpe talked about an electrical device called 'Medical Analyser' which measures the effects of homeopathy medicines on a person's physiology. "We measured the heart rate of a person before and after administering homeopathic medicine Sulphur 200. We noticed that the body reacts to Sulphur 200 and that the ill person goes back to being normal after being administered the medicine," said Dr Paranjpe.

Dr Kanjaksha Ghosh, director, National Institute of Immunohaematology (NII) vouches for homeopathytherapy to cure bleeding disorder in haemophilia patients. "In a study conducted in Surat, Mumbai and Nasik, in 500 cases of haemophilic patients, internal bleeding has been stalled by administering homeopathic drugs," said Dr Ghosh. "There have been cases when the Factor 8 and 9 injections for haemophilia management have been unavailable or very expensive, one-year treatment can cost lakhs of rupees. Homeopathy drugs have proven effective in saving their lives," said Dr Ghosh.

Virologist Dr Abhay Chowdhury at Haffkine Institute said they are working on a homeopathy-based drug or a nosode, which is sourced from tuberculosis germs of multi-drug resistant TB patients. The nosode, which is hoped to improve the condition of TB patients, will undergo animal trials in the near future, said Dr Chowdhury.

Where is global research in homeopathy headed? Austrian molecular biologist Dr Michael Frass and Indian scientist Dr Gaurisankar Sa have proved anti-cancer activities of homeopathy in laboratory experiments on cell lines extracted from the human body. Dr Gaurisankar also demonstrated the regression of cancer in rats after giving homeopathy medicines.

Swine flu may have preventive homeopathy, a Brazil researcher has found. Scientist from Brazil University conducted a study and proved the role of homeopathy medicine sourced from influenza virus itself to prevent the disease.

"Homeopathy is personalised medicine and homeopaths are the first technocrats in medicine in terms of use of computer software in early times for their analysis. MUHS is going to volunteer for meta-analysis in homeopathy. Human genes have a memory of health and diseases. Homeopathy helps to decode this information. Allopathy has scope only for curing only 40 per cent of diseases, which are mostly infectious and nutritional diseases," says Dr Arun Jamkar, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS).

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Homeopathy is not a placebo science

Snake venom could provide answers for the treatment of AIDS, claimed Indian researchers at the World Homeopathy Summit in the city on Saturday.

Snake venom could provide answers for the treatment of AIDS, claimed Indian researchers at the World Homeopathy Summit in the city on Saturday.

Research by doctors at the Hyderabad-based JSPS Government Homeopathic Medical College, and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, on deriving a homeopathic medicine from snake venom, Crotalus Horridus, has shown that it can arrest the multiplication of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Professor Dr Praveen Kumar, head of the department of practice of medicine at JSPS College, said, "Scientifically speaking, Crotalus Horridus has inhibited reverse transcriptase or RT, an enzyme which is utilized by viruses like HIV and Hepatitis-B to convert the viral RNA into viral DNA, so that they multiply into billions and wreck patients."

"Our experiment entails that the homeopathic drug has the capacity to act on HIV, Hepatitis-B and so on. Our work has certainly opened the floodgates of advanced research and clinical testing," he said.

"For years, homeopathy has been adapting the process of converting snake venom and poison from deadly scorpions, spiders and wild bees into medicinal substances by transforming them into nano-particles that have proved safe and effective for patients," Dr Rajesh Shah, organizing secretary, Global Homeopathy Foundation said.

"As a virologist, I was surprised to learn that homeopathy also sources medicines from virus, bacteria and parasites, long before microbiology was fully developed," said Dr Abhay Chaudhary, director of Haffkine Institute, which also manufactures polio vaccines in India.

The Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH), a premium government body under AYUSH and GHF, has organized the summit. "The summit should bring about a paradigm shift in the way the world looks at homeopathy and shock even some practicing homeopaths who believed that the medicines had some undetectable and unseen energy effect and acted as placebos," said Dr Rajesh Shah, organizing secretary, GHF.

Excerpt from:

Is HIV cure hiding in snake venom?

A homeopathic experiment with snake venom on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has given rise to excitement among scientists to work on a possible relief to AIDS and Ebola patients, according to Global Homeopathy Foundation (GHF) managing trustee Sreevalsa Menon.

GHF, founded by a group of homeopathic activists, is a non-government non-profit making organisation.

Research by doctors at the Hyderabad-based JSPS Government Homeopathic Medical College and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), it is stated to have shown that homeopathic medicine from snake venom, Crotalus Horridus, can arrest the multiplication of HIV.

In another two-year long study, Mumbai-based homeopath Rajesh Shah has developed a new medicine for AIDS patients, sourced from HIV itself. The drug has been tested on humans for safety and efficacy and the results are encouraging. Shahs scientific paper for debate has just been published in Indian Journal of Research in Homeopathy (IJRH), the official publication of the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH) in its online edition.

These and other research studies will be presented at the two-day World Homeopathy Summit to be held at Mumbai from April 11. Scientists and doctors from across 25 countries have confirmed their participation at the summit being organised by GHF, Menon stated in a press release here on Thursday.

Our experiment entails that the homeopathic drug has the capacity to act on HIV, etc, said Praveen Kumar, head of Department of Practice of Medicine at JSPS College. He, however, pointed out that it is too early to declare anything big, but our work has certainly opened the floodgates of advanced research and clinical testing.

Prathama S Mainkar, fellow QRS Division of Natural Products Chemistry at IICT, said her team experimented with homeopathic dilutions as well but found that the medicine made out of snake venom was the most useful.

For years, homeopathy is stated to have been using the process of converting snake venom and poison from scorpions, spiders and wild bees into medicinal substances by transforming them into nano-particles that have proved safe and effective for patients.

GHF has invited conventional doctors as well to participate in the meet and update themselves on the significant research that has been going on for the past 15 years, Menon said.

The summit will also focus on the need to integrate both the systems of medicine to meet challenges posed by various diseases because mono-therapy may not work for all patients, he added.

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A homeopathic experiment gives hope for treatment of AIDS

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Newswise PHILADELPHIA Penn Medicine researchers are continuing their work in trying to understand the mechanisms through which anesthetics work to elicit the response that puts millions of Americans to sleep for surgeries each day. Their most recent study looked at ketamine, an anesthetic discovered in the 1960s and more recently prescribed as an anti-depressant at low doses. Through collaboration with the University of Pennsylvanias department of Chemistry and scientists at the Duke University Medical Center, researchers at Penns Perelman School of Medicine have identified an entirely new class of receptors that ketamine binds in the body, which may underlie its diverse actions. The work is published in this weeks issue of Science Signaling.

Ketamine is believed to act through glutamate receptors to produce anesthesia, but this is unlikely to explain the anti-depressant effect; most antidepressants target G-protein coupled receptors (GCPRs), the largest class of druggable receptors, located in the bodys central nervous system (CNS). To explore the GCPR class of receptors, the investigators screened proteins present in the mouse nasal epithelium, olfactory receptors (ORs), which typically respond very selectively to compounds in the air, giving rise to smell. It turns out that these ORs are also present throughout the nervous system. ORs make up the largest group of GCPRs, yet they are unexplored as transducing components of general anesthesia or of antidepressants.

Our hope is that we can visualize the precise molecular interactions between ketamine and ORs, and in turn, learn how this old drug interacts with these and other GCPRs throughout the central nervous system, says the studys senior author, Roderic Eckenhoff, MD, the Austin Lamont Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at Penn.

Eckenhoff and a team at Duke University began their study by screening ORs of mice and found that ketamine activated only two types out of more than several hundred, known as MOR136 and MOR139. They then used computational modeling and simulation approaches with Jeffery Saven, PhD, professor of Chemistry at Penn to generate structural models of these ORs and to understand exactly how they recognize ketamine. Several amino acid residues were identified as critical determinants. The team found that by mutating these amino acids, they could turn ketamine responsiveness both on and off.

They also tested these conclusions in mice by stimulating the olfactory epithelium via intranasal application of ketamine and showed that olfactory sensory neurons that expressed these unique ORs responded to ketamine, suggesting that ORs may truly serve as functional targets for ketamine.

Here we provide evidence that ketamine has a highly specific interaction with the ORs, indicating that at least some of ketamines actions may result from these or other GCPRs in the central nervous system, says Eckenhoff, noting that our rigorous combination of simulation and experiment indicates that we can design receptors to respond specifically to certain drugs, which gets us one step closer to doing the opposite and designing drugs to interact specifically with certain receptors.

Additional Penn authors include Jose Manuel Perez-Aguilar and Lu Gao, department of Chemistry.

This work was funded by NIH grants (DC010857, DC012095, and GM55876), the National Science Foundation through the Penn Nano/Bio Interface Center (NSEC DMR08-3202). # # # Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.9 billion enterprise. The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $409 million awarded in the 2014 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2014, Penn Medicine provided $771 million to benefit our community.

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Penn Medicine Researchers "Smell" New Receptors that Could Underlie the Many Actions of the Anesthetic Drug Ketamine

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Newswise Therapeutic agents intended to reduce dental plaque and prevent tooth decay are often removed by saliva and the act of swallowing before they can take effect. But a team of researchers has developed a way to keep the drugs from being washed away.

Dental plaque is made up of bacteria enmeshed in a sticky matrix of polymersa polymeric matrixthat is firmly attached to teeth. The researchers, led by Danielle Benoit at the University of Rochester and Hyun Koo at the University of Pennsylvanias School of Dental Medicine, found a new way to deliver an antibacterial agent within the plaque, despite the presence of saliva.

Their findings have been published in the journal ACS Nano.

We had two specific challenges, said Benoit, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. We had to figure out how to deliver the anti-bacterial agent to the teeth and keep it there, and also how to release the agent into the targeted sites.

To deliver the agentknown as farnesolto the targeted sites, the researchers created a spherical mass of particles, referred to as a nanoparticle carrier. They constructed the outer layer out of cationicor positively chargedsegments of the polymers. For inside the carrier, they secured the drug with hydrophobic and pH-responsive polymers.

The positively-charged outer layer of the carrier is able to stay in place at the surface of the teeth because the enamel is made up, in part, of HA (hydroxyapatite), which is negatively charged. Just as oppositely charged magnets are attracted to each other, the same is true of the nanoparticles and HA. Because teeth are coated with saliva, the researchers werent certain the nanoparticles would adhere. But not only did the particles stay in place, they were also able to bind with the polymeric matrix and stick to dental plaque.

Since the nanoparticles could bind both to saliva-coated teeth and within plaque, Benoit and colleagues used them to carry an anti-bacterial agent to the targeted sites. The researchers then needed to figure out how to effectively release the agent into the plaque.

A key trait of the inner carrier material is that it destabilizes at acidicor low pHlevels, such as 4.5, allowing the drug to escape more rapidly. And thats exactly what happens to the pH level in plaque when its exposed to glucose, sucrose, starch, and other food products that cause tooth decay. In other words, the nanoparticles release the drug when exposed to cavity-causing eating habitsprecisely when it is most needed to quickly stop acid-producing bacteria.

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A Novel Way to Apply Drugs to Dental Plaque

Chemists, biologists and pharmacologists deal with the question of how complex active substances can be introduced into cells such that they are rapidly and easily available. Building on earlier research, interdisciplinary teams of scientists, with biology Professor M. Cristina Cardoso (TU Darmstadt), physics Professors Henry D. Herce (RPI, NY, USA and TU Darmstadt) and Angel E. Garcia (RPI, NY, USA), and chemistry Professor Christian P. R. Hackenberger (FMP, Berlin), have made some important advancements.

Time and time again, scientists are confronted with the particular biochemical properties of cell membranes, which do not allow large molecules to pass and reach the site inside the cell where they are needed. The scientists presented their results in two recently published articles in the journals Journal of the American Chemical Society and Angewandte Chemie.

Fatty acids open a new door to help curing diseases

A central dogma in cell biology is that charged molecules cannot directly cross into cells. Cells are enclosed by a lipid membrane, which forms a strong barrier, separating the interior and exterior of the cells. This barrier is the most important limitation for potent therapeutic compounds to reach the interior of cells and cure or destroy them, as it would be desirable in the case of, for example, cancer cells.

Scientists from the TU Darmstadt (Germany) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (US) have now challenged this dogmatic view of the cell. In a ground breaking work published in the prominent chemistry journal "Journal of the American Chemical Society," they have shown how certain types of positively charged molecules, known as cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), can directly open transient nano-tunnels across the cell membrane and inject into cells therapeutic drugs.

The health benefits of unsaturated fatty acids are well known. What was not known until now is that free fatty acids, naturally present on the cell membranes, can also facilitate the transport of these very special charged molecules.

This new research reveals how fatty acids form a complex on the cell membrane with CPPs, this complex nucleates a small transient channel connecting the interior and exterior of the cell, and the therapeutic drugs can travel through these tunnels into the cells. The fatty acids-CPPs complex can be thought as a syringe able to inject drugs into each individual cell. This complex acts as a molecular needle through which other therapeutic compounds can be directly delivered into the cells.

Cell-penetrating peptides have been known to enter cells for over 20 years although the mechanism has remained mysterious and a matter of intensive research. Understanding now how they are able to cross the cell membrane barrier will allow to harness the delivery of potent drugs that previously failed to enter cells but could now exert their beneficial effects inside cells. With this trick, new drugs could be developed to fight a wide range of diseases.

Since these peptides are highly charged the dogmatic view assumed that they might exploit pathways naturally present in cells to absorb nutrients from the environment. These pathways mainly trap and rapidly degrade the nutrients they absorb (which can be thought of as a digestive system of cells). This would be a problem to deliver intact therapeutic compounds. However, this new work shows that the fatty acids-CPPs complex directly delivers therapeutic compounds and thus bypasses the digestion machinery/degradation pathway of the cell. The drugs can directly enter the cell through the nano-tunnels and become readily available to work on their targets.

Fatty acids are essential to all forms of life and this work also shows that this transport mechanism present in human cells is also present in plants, insects and animals opening the door to target cells from all kingdoms of life.

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New pathways into the cell: Fundamental insights into drug delivery processes

IMAGE:In this image, density slices through the center a virus. view more

Credit: Malmerberg et al.

In biology, materials science and the energy sciences, structural information provides important insights into the understanding of matter. The link between a structure and its properties can suggest new avenues for designed improvements of synthetic materials or provide new fundamental insights in biology and medicine at the molecular level.

During standard X-ray solution scattering experiments, molecules tumble around during X-ray exposures, resulting in an angularly isotropic diffraction pattern because of the full orientational averaging of the molecules that scatter X-rays. When X-ray snapshots are collected at timescales shorter than a few nano-seconds, such that molecules are virtually frozen in space and time during the scattering experiment, X-ray diffraction patterns are obtained that are no longer angularly isotropic. These measurements, called fluctuation X-ray scattering, are typically performed on an X-ray free electron laser or on a ultra-bright synchrotron and can provide fundamental insights into the structure of biological molecules, engineered nanoparticles or energy-related mesoscopic materials not attainable via standard scattering methods.

A group of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [Malmerberg et al., (2015), IUCrJ, 2, doi:10.1107/S2052252515002535] recently presented an intuitive view of the nature of fluctuation X-ray scattering data and their properties. The scientists have shown that fluctuation scattering is a natural extension of traditional small-angle X-ray scattering and that a number of fundamental operational properties translate from small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering into fluctuation scattering. The authors also show that even with a fairly limited fluctuation scattering dataset, the amount of recoverable structural detail is greatly increased as compared to what can be obtained from standard SAXS/WAXS experiments. Given that the high-quality structural models can be obtained from fluctuation scattering data and the ever-increasing availability of X-ray sources at which these experiments can be performed, the researchers expect that fluctuation scattering experiments will become routine in the future.

"Although fluctuation scattering experiments are not standard or routine at the moment, this work enables us to assess the quality of experimental data and allows us validate our experimental protocols and data reduction routines" Peter Zwart says.

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Fluctuation X-ray scattering

Traditional tropical grass, Darbha, has been identified as an eco-friendly food preservative.

This finding was evolved in a research study undertaken jointly by the Centre for Nanotechnology and Advanced Biomaterials (CeNTAB) and the Centre for Advanced Research in Indian System of Medicine (CARISM) of the SASTRA University, Thanjavur, under the supervision of Dr. P. Meera and Dr. P. Brindha respectively.

Darbha (Desmotachya bipinnata) is a tropical grass considered a sacred material in Vedic scriptures and is said to purify the offerings during such rituals.

At the time of eclipse, people place that grass in food items that could ferment and once the eclipse ends the grass is removed.

A systematic research was conducted by the SASTRA University researchers, in which cows curd was chosen as a food item that could ferment easily.

Five other tropical grass species, including lemon grass, Bermuda grass, and bamboo were chosen for comparison based on different levels of antibiotic properties and hydro phobicity.

Electron microscopy of different grasses revealed stunning nano-patterns and hierarchical nano or micro structures in darbha grass while they were absent in other grasses.

On studying the effect of various grasses on the microbial community of the curd, darbha grass alone was found to attract enormous number of bacteria into the hierarchical surface features.

These are the bacteria responsible for fermentation of cows curd.

During eclipse, the wavelength and intensity of light radiations available on the earths surface is altered. Especially, the blue and ultraviolet radiations, which are known for their natural disinfecting property, are not available in sufficient quantities during eclipse.

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Darbha grass, a natural preservative

Trials carried out of nanoparticles that seek out and repair artery damage Proved successful in mice and scientists hope to conduct first human trials Particles are designed to latch on to deposits on the walls of arteries The 'drones' release a drug that repairs inflammation damage in the body

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 20:34 EST, 18 February 2015 | Updated: 20:34 EST, 18 February 2015

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Trial: In the tests, artery damage in laboratory mice was significantly repaired after five weeks of treatment

Microscopic stealth drones that seek out and repair artery damage could be the future of treatment for heart disease and stroke.

Scientists have carried out successful tests of the nanoparticles in mice and hope soon to conduct the first patient trials.

Each tiny particle - made from a plastic-like material - is 1,000 times smaller than the tip of a human hair.

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Nano drones mend arteries: Microscopic particles that seek out and repair damage could be future of treatment for ...

VIDEO:Animation: Precision Nano "Drones " Deliver Healing Drug to Subdue Atherosclerosis. view more

NEW YORK, NY (February 18, 2015) - Nanometer-sized "drones" that deliver a special type of healing molecule to fat deposits in arteries could become a new way to prevent heart attacks caused by atherosclerosis, if a recent study in mice by scientists at Columbia and Harvard universities is a guide. Full findings appear in the February 18 online issue of Science Translational Medicine.

In the study, biodegradable nanoparticles--loaded with a molecule that promotes healing --were injected into mice with advanced atherosclerosis. The nanoparticles were designed to home in on the hot spots of atherosclerosis in the arteries.

About 70 percent of the nanoparticles implanted themselves into atherosclerotic plaques and slowly released the drug. In these mice, the damage to the arteries was repaired, leading to a plaque that, in humans, would be less likely to cause heart attacks.

Atherosclerosis is driven by inflammation that is uncoupled from the body's normal repair response. In essence, the fat-containing particles (called low-density lipoproteins, or LDL) that stick to our arteries act like splinters in our skin. But whereas skin is repaired once splinters are removed, LDL deposits can last indefinitely and healing never starts.

These inflamed and damaged hot spots are the reason why atherosclerosis causes heart attacks. The spots are prone to rupture, and when they do, blood clots form around the break and obstruct blood flow to the heart.

Many researchers are trying to develop drugs that prevent heart attacks by tamping down inflammation, but that approach has some downsides, says Columbia atherosclerosis researcher Ira Tabas, MD, Richard J. Stock Professor of Medicine (Immunology) and professor of pathology & cell biology, one of the study's two senior leaders.

"One is that atherosclerosis is a chronic disease, so drugs are taken for years, even decades. An anti-inflammatory drug that is distributed throughout the entire body will also impair the immune system's ability to fight infection," he says. That might be acceptable for conditions that severely affect quality of life, like rheumatoid arthritis, but "using this approach to prevent a heart attack that may never happen may not be worth the risk." [Tabas & Glass, Science 2013]

In addition, it's not enough to deliver an anti-inflammatory drug to the plaques, says Columbia associate research scientist Gabrielle Fredman, PhD, one of the study's lead co-authors. "Atherosclerosis is not only inflammation; there's also damage to the arterial wall," she says. "If the damage isn't repaired, you may not prevent heart attacks."

Nature's way of starting repairs is with a suite of "resolving" molecules that extinguish inflammation and then initiate healing. Instead of packing the nanoparticles with anti-inflammatory drugs, Dr. Tabas's and Dr. Farokzhad's team packed them with pieces of a resolving protein called annexin A1.

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Precision nano 'drones' deliver healing drug to subdue atherosclerosis