ACS Nano: new technology for early diagnosis of cancer

February 12, 2020 / BIOON / -- a group of researchers from the Institute of materials science, Kaunas University of Technology (ktu) and colleagues in Japan have come up with a method to force more than 300 million metal nanoparticles to self assemble into stable structures, enhancing their interaction with light by several orders of magnitude This work may contribute to the development of subminiature lasers and to the diagnosis of many diseases, including tumor diseases At the ktu Institute of materials science, researchers are studying materials at the atomic and molecular levels to find effective ways to reconstruct various surface features for use in Photonics and medicine In recent studies, ktu scientists Professor sigitas tamulevicius, Professor Tomas tamulevicius and doctoral student Mindaugas juodenas have studied the smallest metal particles and their interaction with light Photo source: ACS Nano juodenas said: "these metal nanoparticles are very small, as small as 1000 to cover a hair "These particles can resonate with light, which is an interesting and useful phenomenon However, if they form a larger periodic structure, their collective interaction with light not only increases by several orders of magnitude, but also can be controlled This provides a lot of possibilities for the development of subminiature photonic devices, such as nanolasers "We have come up with a way to force 300 million polymetallic nanoparticles to self assemble in a conventional way This makes them more effective at interacting with light What are the benefits? This is an opportunity to develop biosensors that are very sensitive and can even detect individual molecules Therefore, it is possible to diagnose various diseases at an early stage "The results of ktu researchers may also be beneficial to a new cancer treatment currently being developed around the world - photothermal therapy Photothermal therapy refers to the application of heat generated by the resonance interaction between nanoparticles and light to a very small area to kill cancer cells without affecting other tissues of the body This requires laser technology, and the nanoparticle array device proposed by ktu researchers may allow the development of implantable nanopatches, which will help to more effectively redirect light to harmful cells Reference: Mindaugas juod? nas et al Surface Lattice Resonances in Self-Assembled Arrays of Monodisperse Ag Cuboctahedra ， ACS Nano (2019) DOI： 10.1021/acsnano.9b03191