Nanopinion: Fishing for novel interactions between nanomaterials and the immune system: 15 May 2023; In our latest guest column, Prof. Bengt Fadeel shares his experiments with zebrafish and what he discovered about the gut microbiome and 2D materials.

26 April 2023 Call for study proposals extended until 12 May

The European Union Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) is looking for topics that could be addressed in its upcoming studies.

If you have a proposal for a specific study topic that fills an information gap relevant to nanomaterials on the EU market, EUON may be able to carry it out. Submit your proposal by 12 May 2023 and contribute to the work of the EUON.
11 April 2023 Seeing is believing

In their guest column, Dr Chandima Bulumulla and Dr Abraham G. Beyene explain how single walled carbon nanotubes can help measure bio-chemical processes happening inside our brain.

“In addition to dopamine release events, we were able to visualise the diffusion of dopamine outside of neurons following their release. With this new technology, we were able to image dopamine release events in axonal terminals, and more importantly, shed light on poorly understood dendritic dopamine release events.”
14 March 2023 Nanopinion: A reliable and non-destructive experimental technique can monitor the crystal defect structure in nanomaterials

In his guest column, Professor Jenő Gubicza explains how to monitor the crystal defect structure in nanomaterials using a non-destructive experimental technique.

“X-ray line profile analysis (XLPA) is a very effective indirect method for the characterisation of the nanocrystalline microstructure. XLPA analyses the diffraction peak shape and yields the crystallite size distribution and the type and density of crystal defects with good statistics and in a non-destructive way.”

Nanomaterials and health

Are substances in nanoforms more dangerous than they are in their normal size? Some are and some are not. Just like any other chemical substance, nanomaterials have to be assessed separately.

Fighting cancer using nanotechnology

Nanomaterials are not only used in consumer products, but also in new and innovative medical treatments. Research has shown that nanoparticles can be used to damage and even destroy cancer cells from within.