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Category: nanotechnology

How major nuclear protein complexes control specialized gene regulation in cancer and beyond

Precision and timing of gene expression is essential for normal biological functions and, when disrupted, can lead to many human diseases, including cancers. However, how molecular machines—protein complexes—that control gene expression locate to specific genes at specific times within the nuclei of our cells has remained a mystery.

Now, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered a new protein domain, SWIFT, found on a major chromatin remodeling complex family called mammalian SWI/SNF (mSWI/SNF or BAF) complexes, which helps these regulatory machines target particular genes to activate their expression.

The findings, published in Science, reveal how the SWIFT platform on mSWI/SNF complexes engage transcription factors (TF) to enable specialized cellular functions during both normal development and cancer. Particularly in human cancers, SWIFT-TF engagement sustains cancer-promoting gene expression and cell growth. Notably, breaking interactions with mutations halts cancer cell growth, flagging this new SWIFT-TF platform as a promising target for small molecule development.

Replication efforts suggest ‘smoking gun’ evidence isn’t enough to prove quantum computing claims

A group of scientists, including Sergey Frolov, professor of physics at the University of Pittsburgh, and co-authors from Minnesota and Grenoble have undertaken several replication studies centered around topological effects in nanoscale superconducting or semiconducting devices. This field is important because it can bring about topological quantum computing, a hypothetical way of storing and manipulating quantum information while protecting it against errors.

In all cases, they found alternative explanations of similar data. While the original papers claimed advances for quantum computing and made their way into top scientific journals, the individual follow-ups could not make it past the editors at those same journals.

Reasons given for its rejection included that, being a replication, it was not novel; that, after a couple of years, the field had moved on. But replications take time and effort and the experiments are resource-intensive and cannot happen overnight. And important science does not become irrelevant on the scale of years.

Quantum phenomenon enables a nanoscale mirror that can be switched on and off

Controlling light is an important technological challenge—not just at the large scale of optics in microscopes and telescopes, but also at the nanometer scale. Recently, physicists at the University of Amsterdam published a clever quantum trick that allows them to make a nanoscale mirror that can be turned on and off at will.

The work is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.

Behind nature’s blueprints: Physicists create ‘theoretical rulebook’ of self-assembly

Inspired by biological systems, materials scientists have long sought to harness self-assembly to build nanomaterials. The challenge: the process seemed random and notoriously difficult to predict.

Now, researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and Brandeis University have uncovered geometric rules that act as a master control panel for self-assembling particles.

The results, which could find applications ranging from protein design to synthetic nanomachines, were published in Nature Physics.

AI-generated sensors open new paths for early cancer detection

Detecting cancer in the earliest stages could dramatically reduce cancer deaths because cancers are usually easier to treat when caught early. To help achieve that goal, MIT and Microsoft researchers are using artificial intelligence to design molecular sensors for early detection.

The researchers developed an AI model to design peptides (short proteins) that are targeted by enzymes called proteases, which are overactive in cancer cells. Nanoparticles coated with these peptides can act as sensors that give off a signal if cancer-linked proteases are present anywhere in the body.

Depending on which proteases are detected, doctors would be able to diagnose the particular type of cancer that is present. These signals could be detected using a simple urine test that could even be done at home.

Washing machine filter captures microfibers as small as 20 micrometers in size

A single laundry load containing synthetic clothing can release thousands of plastic microfibers from nylon, acrylic and polyester materials. Lab testing of an SA-made washing machine filter at Flinders University shows it can be a useful new way to help protect waterways from polyester and other synthetic microparticles.

Flinders researchers are also developing a novel approach to enhance nanoplastic capture on cellulose filters using a plasma polymer coating.

Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5 mm wide, and they break down further to nanoparticles.

Scientists outline how to control light at the atomic scale using polaritons

Controlling light at dimensions thousands of times smaller than the thickness of a human hair is one of the pillars of modern nanotechnology.

An international team led by the Quantum Nano-Optics Group of the University of Oviedo and the Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center (CINN/Principalty of Asturias-CSIC) has published a review article in Nature Nanotechnology detailing how to manipulate fundamental optical phenomena when light couples to matter in atomically thin materials.

The study focuses on polaritons, hybrid quasiparticles that emerge when light and matter interact intensely. By using low-symmetry materials, known as van der Waals materials, light ceases to propagate in a conventional way and instead travels along specific directions, a characteristic that gives rise to phenomena that challenge conventional optics.

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