A review paper by University College Dublin (UCD), which is featured on the front cover of Nature Nanotechnology, describes how nanoparticles can gather a cloak of molecules onto themselves in the human body. This concept stands to have profound implications for nanomedicine, which includes improved drug delivery and the ability to diagnose disease earlier, and the safe regulation of nanotechnology.
Professor Dawson and colleagues have made important insights into what happens when a ‘bare’ nanoparticle gets into a new environment, whether it’s a living organism or a milieu such as a river. They have shown that nanoparticles draw down or adsorb molecules onto their surfaces to form a cloak known as a corona, and it’s this corona of proteins and fats that ultimately interacts with the body rather than the nanoparticle material itself.
To read more please click here and/or download the article in Nature Nanotechnology.
Source: University College Dublin