Nano Biotechnology
Veranja KarunaratneSLINTEC/NANCO
Professor Richard Feyman (Nobel Prize in Physics 1965)- 1959
“ Why can’t we write the entire the 24 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin?”
‘What I want to talk about is the problem of manipulating and controlling things on a small scale.’
“In the year 2000, whenthey look back at this age,
they will wonder why it wasnot until the year 1960 thatanybody began seriously
to move in this direction.”
“There is plenty of room at the bottom”
Size of an atom
1 m
1 mm
1 m
1 nm
HumansCar
ButterflyGnat
1 kmBoeing 747
Laptop
Wavelength of Visible Light
Micromachines
Width of DNA
Smallest feature in microelectronic chips
Proteins
Biological cellNucleus of a cell
Aircraft Carrier
Size of a Microprocessor
Nanostructures & Quantum Devices
Top DownTop Down
Bottom UpBottom Up
Resolving power of the eye ~ 0.2 mm
Perspective of Length Scale
How Small is a nm?1 µm= one millionth of a meter1 nm= one billionth of a meter
≈ 1/50,000 thickness of a hair!≈ a string of 3 atoms
If we shrunk all distances by 110,000,000,000 XThe sun and earth would be separated by 1 mA football field would be 1 nm
Human hair thickness ~ 50 µm
110,000,000 km
110 m
More than just size…
Chemical – take advantage of large surface to volume ratio, interfacial and surface chemistry important Electronic – quantum confinement, bandgap engineering, electron tunnelingMagnetic – giant magnetoresistance by nanoscale multilayers
Interesting phenomena:
Mechanical – improved strength hardness in light-weight nanocomposites and nanomaterialsOptical – absorption and fluorescence of nanocrystalsFluidic – enhanced flow properties with nanoparticlesThermal – increased thermoelectric performance of nanoscale materials
Nanotechnology: harnessing of matter between 1 – 100 nm
What is Nanobiotechnology?
Biotechnology is the application of technologicalinnovation as it pertains to biological and life sciences.
Nanobiotechnology incorporates biotechnology on thenano-scale.
Nanoparticles have in general relatively higher intracellular uptake compared to microparticles.
Eg: 100 nm size nanoparticles showed 2.5 fold greater uptake compared to 1 µm and 6 fold higher uptake compared to 10 µm microparticles in Caco-2 cell line.
The efficiency of uptake of 100 nm size particles was 15–250 fold greater than larger size (1 and 10 µm) microparticles In a rat in situ intestinal loop model.
In the above rat study, nanoparticles were able to penetrate throughout the submucosal layers while the larger size microparticles were predominantly localized in the epithelial lining .
Others have shown that nanoparticles can cross the blood–brain barrier following the opening of tight junctions by hyperosmotic mannitol. Such a strategy could provide sustained delivery of therapeutic agents for difficult-to-treat diseases like brain tumors .
In vitro studies have shown that serum does not affect the intracellular uptake of PLGA nanoparticles. Thus these nanoparticles can be administered into systemic circulation without the problems of particle aggregation or blockage of fine blood capillaries.
Drug Delivery: Significance of particle size
Drug Delivery: The advantages & methods of target specific drug delivery
Advantages:• Reduction of systemic distribution of the
cytotoxic drug reduces associated side effects.• Reduction of the dosage by localized targeting
Methods:• Magnetic drug carriers• Doped nanotubes/particles• Conjugated drugs• Coated nanoparticles as drug carriers
The miniature bioreactor consisted of a petri dish of a strain of green algae on top of another dish containing a suspension of silver nanoparticles.
Plant and animal production Fertilizer Food safety Food formulation Food quality enhancement Biofuels
Applications of nanotechnology in the agriculture and food sector
Agriculture
0 µg ml–1 10 µg ml–1 40 µg ml–1Concentration of nanotubes in growth medium
•Loss of nitrogen exceeding 50 – 60% is due to conversion to water soluble nitrates, gaseous ammonia and incorporation into the soil with the aid of soil microorganisms
•However, application of nanotechnology involving slow release fertilizer can increase the nitrogen utilization efficiency
SLINTEC has come up with two slow release fertilizer compositions: (1) inorganic inner urea coated hydroxyapatitme nanoparticles has been encapsulated within a natural cellulose based outer core containing micro/nano porous cavities. (2) the fertilizer system is based on urea modified hydroxy apatite nanoparticles intercalated in montmorilonite