News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have found that targeting a non-encoding stretch of RNA may help shrink tumors caused by an aggressive type of brain cancer in children. A previous study showed that a long noncoding stretch of RNA contributes to the growth of brain tumors by attaching to a piece of DNA that increases expression of cancer-causing genes. In this study, the researchers developed an intravenous treatment that uses cerium oxide nanoparticles and that ultimately blocks the noncoding stretch of RNA from binding to the piece of DNA to stop the resulting cascade of cancer-gene expression. 

By wrapping a carbon nanotube with a ribbon-like polymer, researchers from Duke University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, were able to create nanotubes that conduct electricity when struck with low-energy light. The approach takes a metallic nanotube, which always lets current through, and transforms it into a semiconducting form that can be switched on and off. The secret lies in special polymers that wind around the nanotube in an orderly spiral, "like wrapping a ribbon around a pencil," said the study’s first author Francesco Mastrocinque.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have developed a "GPS nanoparticle" that, after being injected intravenously, can home in on cancer cells to deliver a genetic punch to the protein implicated in tumor growth and spread. The researchers showed that this nanoparticle works for basal-like breast cancers, which are characterized by aggressive, quickly growing tumors that shed cancer cells, which then spread elsewhere in the body.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh are providing guidance on the design of lipid nanoparticles for safe use during pregnancy. Lipid nanoparticles are the delivery vehicles that bring messenger RNA into cells. The researchers are studying how changes during pregnancy (for example, immune system changes) alter nanoparticle behavior, compared to non-pregnant people. So far, the researchers have shown that the inclusion of different lipids in a nanoparticle alters its chemistry, which in turn changes the way the immune system responds.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School have shown that a type of nanoparticle called a metal organic framework can provoke a strong immune response by activating the innate immune system – the body’s first line of defense against any pathogen – through cell proteins called toll-like receptors. In a study of mice, the researchers showed that this metal organic framework could successfully encapsulate and deliver part of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, while also acting as an adjuvant once the metal organic framework is broken down inside cells. An adjuvant is a molecule that helps to boost the immune system’s response to a protein.

Researchers from Rice University and Florida State University have shown that changing the structure of the oxide layer that coats aluminum nanoparticles modifies their catalytic properties. The researchers elucidated the structure of the native oxide layer on aluminum nanoparticles and showed that heating the nanoparticles to temperatures of up to 500 degrees Celsius (932 degrees Fahrenheit) in different gases can change the structure of the aluminum oxide layer. One of the effects of this heating was to make the aluminum nanoparticles better at facilitating the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and water.

Researchers from Oregon State University and Tiangong University in Tianjin, China, have identified a material known as a metal-organic framework that could completely remove and break down the common herbicide glyphosate. Metal-organic frameworks are crystalline, porous materials with tunable structural properties and nanosized pores. The metal-organic framework studied by the researchers is based on scandium and a carboxylate linker. "When exposed to light for just five minutes, [this metal-organic framework] eliminated 100% of glyphosate in water," said Kyriakos Stylianou, one of the scientists involved in this study.

Researchers from Washington State University have discovered that bacteria can be tricked into sending death signals to stop the growth of biofilms, which are slimy, protective homes that lead to deadly infections. The researchers discovered that extracellular vesicles are key to managing the growth of the protective biofilm. The vesicles, tiny bubbles from 30 to 50 nanometers, shuttle molecules from cells, entering and then re-programming neighboring cells and acting as a cell-to-cell communications system. The researchers were able to harness the vesicles with the instructions to stop growing the biofilm and to use them to fool the bacteria into killing off the biofilm. 

Researchers from Oregon State University, Oregon Health and Science University, and EnterX Biosciences, Inc. in Portland, Ore., have developed a type of lipid nanoparticle that can reach the lungs and the eyes, an important step toward a genetic therapy for hereditary conditions like cystic fibrosis and inherited vision loss. "These nanoparticles filled with fatty lipids can encapsulate genetic medicines like mRNA and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editors, which can be used to treat and even cure rare genetic diseases," said Yulia Eygeris, one of the scientists involved in this study.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pusan National University in Busan, South Korea, have examined the changes that occur in the structure of a specific nanomaterial as it changes from conducting an electrical current to not. The material, strontium cobalt oxide, easily switches between conducting and insulating phases. The researchers used a technique, called X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, that can directly measure how fast the material fluctuates between these two phases at the atomic scale.