https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) can help scientists determine the three-dimensional structure of proteins in unprecedented detail. Jacques Dubochet, former group leader at EMBL, shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for the development of this technique, which led to the "resolution revolution" in structural biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-unique-instruments-automate-sample-quality.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:50:04 EDT news701449321 Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have discovered a way to breach one of cancer's most stubborn defenses: the impenetrable fortress that solid tumors build around themselves. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-ultrasound-jiggled-nanobubbles-cancer-collagen.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:00:44 EST news690650412 Researchers at Oregon State University have developed and tested in a mouse model a new type of nanoparticle that enables the removal of melanoma tumors with a low-power laser. After the systemically administered nanoparticles accumulate in cancerous tissue, exposure to near-infrared light causes them to heat up and destroy the melanoma cells, leaving healthy tissue unharmed. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-nanoparticles-melanoma-tumors-mice-power.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:00:02 EST news689953688 A new study has found for the first time that magnetoelectric nanoparticles—tiny, wirelessly controlled particles activated by magnetic fields—can both locate and destroy pancreatic tumors in preclinical models, offering a potential new approach to minimally invasively treating one of the deadliest cancers. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-magnetoelectric-nanotherapy-pancreatic-tumors-survival.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 04 Nov 2025 11:48:04 EST news681479281 Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment, it continues to impose a significant health burden globally. Researchers have now started exploring various innovative methods, such as engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) that can enable targeted drug delivery to cancer cells. While promising, the in vivo behavior of pH-responsive ENMs, which continuously interact with body fluids once administered, remains poorly understood. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-ph-responsive-graphene-nanocarriers-precision.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 07 Aug 2025 10:20:04 EDT news673780802 The drug pipeline—the process through which a potential new drug gets discovered, tested, approved, and marketed—is a notoriously long and arduous process, and even the most promising drugs can languish or die on the road to the clinic. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-polymeric-package-breast-cancer-nanoparticle.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 13 Jun 2025 08:55:47 EDT news669023743 Traditionally, radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery have been the most common ways to remove and destroy malignant cells. However, because these treatments can also damage healthy cells, they often have significant side effects. Today, more precise and targeted therapies are emerging, designed to attack cancer cells while sparing normal tissues. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-precision-cancer-treatment-magnet-nanoparticles.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 06 Mar 2025 12:09:04 EST news660485341 Melanoma is a fast-progressing skin cancer characterized by a high mortality rate after metastasis. Local chemotherapy could be considered a therapeutic approach only in stage 0 of progression (in situ melanoma) and in the postoperative phase after surgical removal of suspected skin lesions. For this purpose, drugs such as Imiquimod, 5-Fluorouracil, Dacarbazine, and Doxorubicin have been tested and shown positive effects. Recently, metal nanoparticles as separate therapeutic units or drug carriers have also fallen into the research focus. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-green-tea-derived-nanosilver-complex.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 31 Jan 2025 10:29:02 EST news657541741 A research group from Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) developed a novel method for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) therapy by transplanting mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which improved the therapeutic efficacy and realized real-time treatment visualization. The study was published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-trimetallic-based-nanocarriers-method-visualized.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 16 Sep 2024 09:47:03 EDT news645698821 In a study published in PNAS, a research team has resolved the first high-resolution structure of the sgc8c DNA aptamer that targets protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7), engineered two optimal sgc8c variants for disease theranostics efficiently, and revealed new principles for the sophisticated structural and functional organization of DNA molecules. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-deciphers-intricate-3d-dna-aptamer.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 19 Jul 2024 11:51:03 EDT news640608662 Bacterial biofilm infections are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among patients with cystic fibrosis or those with weakened immune systems. Treatment for biofilm infections usually entails intensive antibiotic therapy. There is an urgent need for well-designed agents to achieve in vivo diagnosis and precise anti-biofilm therapy without bacterial resistance. Unfortunately, no effective agent has been designed to perform these tasks adequately. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-lanthanide-nanohybrids-pulmonary-biofilm-infections.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 11 Jun 2024 09:39:48 EDT news637317584 If left to their own devices, bacteria on our teeth or wounded skin can encase themselves in a slimy scaffolding, turning into what is called biofilm. These bacteria wreak havoc on our tissue and, being shielded from antibiotic medication by the slime, are difficult to dislodge. A new strategy may offer a simple way to break up the muck and destroy the bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-sugar-coated-gold-nanoparticles-quickly.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 13 Mar 2024 11:24:03 EDT news629547841 When it comes to delivering drugs to the body, a major challenge is ensuring that they remain in the area they're treating and continuing to deliver their payload accurately. While major strides have been made in delivering drugs, monitoring them is a challenge that often requires invasive procedures like biopsies. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-self-assembling-self-illuminating-therapeutic-proteins.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 21 Dec 2023 10:47:04 EST news622378021 Fluorescence-guided intervention strategies can improve standard therapies to detect and treat microscopic tumors to thereby prevent lethal recurrence. Cancer biologists have made tremendous progress in photoimmunotherapy and nanotechnology to treat metastasis, although the effects of such techniques are limited by heterogeneous effects. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-nanotherapy-fluorescence-guided-photoimmunotherapy-peritoneal-carcinomatosis.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 25 Sep 2023 11:10:01 EDT news614857190 Atherosclerosis is characterized by the hardening of blood vessels, especially certain arteries, due to the local buildup of fibers and lipids (mainly cholesterol) in the inner wall of an artery, causing it to narrow. It is a complex disease that can trigger life-threatening events, such as myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-atherosclerosis-diagnosis-ultrasmall-calcium-carbonate.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 14 Sep 2023 09:52:03 EDT news613903921 Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a new approach to potentially detect and kill cancer cells, especially those that form a solid tumor mass. They have created hybrid nanoparticles made of gold and copper sulfide that can kill cancer cells using heat and enable their detection using sound waves, according to a study published in ACS Applied Nano Materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-hybrid-nanoparticles-cancer-cells.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 11 Sep 2023 10:49:03 EDT news613648141 A new nanocomplex renders a tumor harmless—and, on top of that, it trains the immune system to detect and eliminate metastases. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-nanocomplex-unleashes-immune-metastases.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 07 Sep 2023 10:07:03 EDT news613300021 For the first time in the world researchers at Tel Aviv University have encoded a toxin produced by bacteria into mRNA (messenger RNA) molecules and delivered these particles directly to cancer cells, causing the cells to produce the toxin—which eventually killed them with a success rate of 50%. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-cancer-cells-commit-suicide-self-produced.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 04 Jul 2023 06:44:52 EDT news607671888 From early detection and internal treatment of diseases to futuristic applications like augmenting human memory, biological computing, or biocomputing, has the potential to revolutionize medicine and computers. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-biocomputing-method-enzymes-catalysts-dna-based.html Biotechnology Mon, 01 May 2023 08:51:03 EDT news602149861 Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), known as "immortal cancer," is a chronic, progressive autoimmune inflammatory disease. The development and application of an RA high-sensitivity theranostics probe can help to accurately monitor the progression and realize the efficient treatment of RA. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-autofluorescence-free-imaging-guided-precision-therapy-rheumatoid.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 10 Feb 2023 09:44:35 EST news595244670 National University of Singapore chemists have discovered that aggregated, photosensitized, gold nanoparticle conjugates can be used for multimodal imaging and synergistic phototherapy to destroy cancer cells effectively at power densities below the skin tolerance threshold. The research is published in the journal Nano Today. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-aggregated-gold-nanoparticle-conjugates-multimodal.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 09 Feb 2023 08:55:03 EST news595155301 Oregon State University scientists have produced a proof of concept for a new and better way of caring for women facing the life-threatening situation of ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when a fertilized egg implants somewhere other than the lining of the uterus. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-light-sensitive-nanoparticle-ectopic-pregnancy.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 21 Nov 2022 17:36:03 EST news588274561 In September, researchers from California and Denmark were awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of "click" chemistry, a process in which molecules snap together like LEGO, making them a potentially more efficient transportation device in delivering pharmaceuticals to cancer tumors. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-click-chemistry-dogs-bone-cancer.html Veterinary medicine Fri, 04 Nov 2022 13:32:05 EDT news586787522 Various chemical reactions occur one after another in cells, and life is maintained as each step of the reaction is regulated without error. Recently, a Korean research team has developed a dual-catalyst system that can precisely control catalytic reactions much as cells can. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-enabling-precise-catalytic-reactions.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 14 Sep 2022 13:14:55 EDT news582380093 The CIC biomaGUNE Molecular and Functional Biomarkers group has developed a rapid, cost-effective, synthetic, microwave method for producing ultra-small manganese ferrite nanoparticles that act as advanced, multimodal contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET); they also have intracellular catalytic activity as a result of which an unprecedented reduction in tumor growth can be induced, for materials of this type, in a preclinical model of breast cancer. The results of this research, published by the journal Small, demonstrate that these nanoparticles have robust characteristics for nanobiotechnological applications. https://phys.org/news/2022-03-inorganic-nanozymes-therapeutic-contrast-agents.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 30 Mar 2022 09:30:07 EDT news567851405 Supramolecular self-assembly based on noncovalent interactions is considered as a key strategy for introducing intracellular synthetic biocompatible macromolecules. The synthetic macromolecules resemble the nature, behavior, and function of biomacromolecules in living systems. https://phys.org/news/2022-01-intracellular-supramolecular-self-assembly-cellular-function.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 18 Jan 2022 08:43:38 EST news561717816 For more than three decades, biomedical nanomaterials have been successfully developed for the benefit of theranostics—a compound term referring to the diagnoses and treatment of tumors. The nanoparticles must reach the tumor site and its distinct microenvironment to target the treatment for the tumor. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-smart-nanoparticles-advances-tumor-treatment.html Nanomaterials Tue, 07 Dec 2021 11:20:04 EST news558098402 It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: a man-made crystal that can be attached to antibodies and then supercharge them with potent drugs or imaging agents that can seek out diseased cells with the highest precision, resulting in fewer adverse effects for the patient. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-world-first-antibody-drug-delivery.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 07 Dec 2021 10:41:13 EST news558096070 A growing body of evidence points to a link between iron-deficiency anemia and severe tooth decay. Whether the connection is correlative or causative is unknown, though both conditions are associated with poor diets and are more common in people living in impoverished environments and with underlying medical conditions. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-nanozyme-therapy-dental-plaque-build-up.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 26 Oct 2021 03:34:42 EDT news554438078 Nano-sized particles have been engineered in a new way to improve detection of tumors within the body and in biopsy tissue, a research team in Sweden reports. The advance could enable identifying early stage tumors with lower doses of radiation. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-nanoparticle-paves-tumors.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 02 Jun 2021 12:03:22 EDT news541854199