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Topic Name: Using carbon nanotubes to detect nitric oxide : New sensor could reveal nitric oxide's role in living cells
Category: Nanocharacterization
Research persons: Michael Strano
Location: Cambridge, United States
Details
Source: "The rational design of nitric oxide selectivity in
single-walled carbon nanotube near infrared fluorescence sensors for biological
detection"
Jong-Ho Kim et al
Nature Chemistry
Results: A new carbon nanotube sensor developed at MIT is
the first sensor that can reversibly detect nitric oxide, a gas that cells
commonly use to communicate with each other. Because the nitric oxide-carbon
nanotube binding is reversible, the sensor can be used multiple times.
Why it matters: Nitric oxide is notoriously difficult to
detect because it is so unstable. Monitoring nitric oxide levels in living
cells, in real time, could help researchers figure out its role in cancer and
other diseases. It would also allow closer study of nitric-oxide-releasing
cancer drugs now in clinical trials. Biologists could also use such sensors to
study nitric oxide's effects on the brain, where it acts as a neurotransmitter.
Michael Strano, associate professor of chemical engineering and leader of the
research team, says the advance will enable scientists to begin to answer some
fundamental, long-standing biological questions.
How they did it: The researchers coated carbon nanotubes
with a polymer designed to specifically attract nitric oxide. The polymer is
wrapped tightly enough that only small molecules can get through to bind the
nanotube, and the nitric oxide is strongly attracted to the nanotube by an extra
pair of electrons passed from the polymer to the nanotube. The sensor is
activated by near-infrared light, which easily penetrates the human body
(biological tissues are relatively transparent to this kind of light).
Next steps: The team plans to start testing the sensors in
living animals, and is working on similar sensors that can detect molecules
other than nitric oxide.
About the Researcher :
Prof. Michael Strano
66-566 Department of
Chemical Engineering
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Email: strano@mit.edu
Phone: (617) 324-4323
Fax: (617) 258-8224
| Tags: |
carbon nanotube - infrared fluorescence sensor - biological detection - - |
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