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