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Tuesday, 1st September 2009 (4753 views)

Specially-designed gold nanoparticles have been used by scientists in the US to simultaneously "pinpoint" up to ten different biomarkers for diseases such as cancer.

Nanotechnology Now reports that the work was carried out by a team from the Stanford University Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE).

They added a silica coating to gold nanoparticles so they emitted a bright Raman spectroscopic signal.

When irradiated with near-infrared light, each of the ten types of nanotags generated a unique Raman spectrum.

Using Raman spectroscopy, the team led by the CCNE's principal investigator Dr Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, was able to simultaneously track the nanotags after they had been injected into a mouse.

Spectral analysis software is also able to sort the amount of light each nanotag emits from the overall mix, giving individual concentrations of the different types.

The experiment was the first to use surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for multiplexed imaging in a living animal and indicates that the technique could potentially be used for detecting cancer biomarkers.

The CCNE brings together scientists and researchers from Stanford University, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Austin, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, the Frederick Hutchinson Cancer Center, Intel and General Electric Global Research.

 

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