Research Spotlight: Bionanotechnology: Small can Have a Big Impact in the Medical Sciences: A Win-Win Situation. Part 1.

Figures & data

Figure 1. Research theme areas and research chairs at Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN).

CRC: Canada Research Chair; IRC: Industrial Research Chair; NSERC: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

Figure 2. The Quantum Nano Centre.

Reproduced with permission from KPMB Architects.

Figure 3. Atomic-force microscopic images of the compaction of plasmid DNA into nanoparticles by gemini surfactant 16–3–16.

(A)‘Naked’ plasmid. (B) Initial phases of compaction 30 s after adding gemini surfactant; bar 100 nm. (C) Nanoparticle formation 15 min after adding gemini surfactant; bars 400 nm.

Reproduced with permission from [12].

Figure 5. Time-course of intracellular delivery of siRNA by multiwall carbon nanotubes into murine PAM 212 keratinocytes.

Cell viability is indicated by calcein staining (green); siGLO-RNA uptake into cells is indicated by red.

Figure 4. Schematic (A) and transmission electron microscopic image (B) of a multiwall carbon nanotube (~15 nm outer diameter) synthesized using the SSP-354 benchtop chemical vapor deposition system by Nanotech Innovations.

Figure 6. Bacterioferritin and Peptide-Nanotube Interactions.

(A) Visualized internal cavity of bacterioferritin showing the nanoscale dimension of this class of protein. (B) Peptide–single-walled nanotube interaction based on various biophysical studies conducted by the Honek group.

Figure 7. Particle size distributions and micrographs demonstrating the morphology change of unIonized di-end-capped C60-b-PAA83-b-C60 induced by the binding of TX100:

(A) C_TX100 = 0 mM; (B) C_TX100 = 0.7 mM; (C) C_TX100 = 1.7 mM; (D) C_TX100 = 3.5 mM.

Table 1. Researchers and research interests in nanobiotechnology at WIN.

Specific research programs	WIN faculty member
Virus-based systems as novel nanobiomaterials; complex biologics	M Aucoin
Optical properties of the eye; biophotonics; studies of amyloid-β at the nanoscale	M Campbell
Targeted drug and gene delivery; interfacial engineering and polymer synthesis	P Chen^†
Novel nanomaterials and strategies for transdermal drug delivery	M Foldvari^†
Nanoparticles in medicine; targeted drug delivery	F Gu
Application of biological chemistry to synthesis of new nanomaterials and structures	J Honek
Biophysics of lipids; application of lipid films in biomedical nanotechnology	Z Leonenko
Targeted drug delivery, nanomedicine and self-assembly	J Liu
Nanoparticle-based thin-film sensors; materials and tools for bionanodevices	V Maheshwari
Nanosystems for drug delivery, polymer–surfactant interactions and magnetic nanoparticles	M Tam
Nanomaterials; devices for biology and medicine	S Tang
Surfaces and interactions of soft materials at the nanoscale	J Forrest

^† Canada Research Chair.

Foldvari M , BadeaI, WettigS, VerrallR, BagonluriM. Structural characterization of novel gemini non-viral DNA delivery systems for cutaneous gene therapy.J. Exp. NanoSci.1(2), 165–176 (2006).

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