left example of a fluorescent barcodes. To the right cells (in green) grown on a carpet of brilliant nanowires (in red).
Nanowires labeled with a fluorescent bar code can be detected in cells. This makes it easier to detect hazards of nanoparticles hope the researchers behind the new method.
Using the Lund researchers fluorescent barcodes is possible to follow the path of the nanowire in such a cell.
Christelle Prinz
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Nanotechnology offers tremendous opportunities to tailor the material and give such surfaces new properties. But the technology also brings risks. Carbon nanotubes have such similarities with asbestos.
Knowledge of the effects on people and the environment that various nanomaterial can have is still inadequate, according to a comprehensive investigation that was presented to the government last week.
One difficulty is to follow the path of nanomaterials in cells. Researchers at Lund University have developed a method that will make it easier.
They have shown that it is possible to label nanowires with fluorescent barcodes. The bar codes can then be read in cells using a fluorescence microscope.
– A further advantage is that the nanowires retain luminance for several years. This enables long-term follow-up, says Christelle Prinz, Associate Professor of Solid State Physics at Lund University.
She, along with colleagues presented method in the latest issue of the journal Nano Letters.
Several nanowires, for example, with different length and diameter can be studied simultaneously by being labeled with different barcodes. They may also be coated with different chemical substances.
Christelle Prinz says that technology can simplify toxicology studies of nanomaterials.
– example, when using nanoparticles to transport drugs to specific cells, it is important to know for sure that the nanoparticle does not harm the cell. Nano particle is supposed to be just a postman.
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