Two young researchers on their way to becoming entrepreneurs

Start-ups for environmentally friendly batteries and nanoparticles for cancer therapy in planning

27-Mar-2023 - Two young Empa scientists each receive an Empa Entrepreneur Fellowship to develop innovative products based on their research. Abdessalem Aribia is developing environmentally friendly and safe batteries, while Subas Scheibler is working on nanoparticles for cancer therapy. The Empa Entrepreneur ...

Making Puffer Fish Toxin in a Flask

Total synthesis of tetrodotoxin

10-Mar-2020 - In Japan, puffer fish is considered a delicacy, but the tickle to the taste buds comes with a tickle to the nerves: fugu contains tetrodotoxin, a strong nerve toxin. In low doses, tetrodotoxin is shown in clinical trials to be a replacement for opioids for relieving cancer related pain. In the ...

Water-Soluble Warped Nanographene

Synthesis of a water-soluble warped nanographene and its application for photo-induced cell death

13-Feb-2018 - Graphene and its nano-sized little sibling, nanographene, are well known for their remarkable photoelectronic properties. However, biomedical applications are hampered by the insolubility of the materials, especially in water. A Japanese team of scientists has now introduced substituted “warped ...

A simpler way to deposit magnetic iron oxide onto gold nanorods

14-Dec-2017 - Researchers from North Carolina State University and MIT have found a simpler way to deposit magnetic iron oxide (magnetite) nanoparticles onto silica-coated gold nanorods, creating multifunctional nanoparticles with useful magnetic and optical properties. Gold nanorods have widespread potential ...

Nano imagining takes turn for the better

Photothermal technique provides new way to track nanoparticles

08-Feb-2010 - Stephan Link wants to understand how nanomaterials align, and his lab's latest work is a step in the right direction. Link's Rice University group has found a way to use gold nanorods as orientation sensors by combining their plasmonic properties with polarization imaging techniques. That may ...

Hollow gold nanospheres show promise for biomedical and other applications

24-Mar-2009 - A new metal nanostructure developed by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has already shown promise in cancer therapy studies and could be used for chemical and biological sensors and other applications as well. The hollow gold nanospheres developed in the laboratory of Jin ...