Symposium offers small solutions to big medical challenges

Gus Lott, a doctoral candidate in applied physics at Cornell, joins fellow attendees during a break in the Nanobiotechnology Center's annual research symposium June 27 in the Biotechnology Building. One Cornell presentation showed a microdevice that may allow researchers to predict the toxicity of certain drugs on humans without the use of animal testing. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

By Lissa Harris

Scientists at Cornell's Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) continue to show that little things can have big impacts.

At the NBTC's annual research symposium June 27, Cornell scientists and their collaborators met to discuss new developments in the fledgling field of nanobiotechnology. Speakers from universities and laboratories across the country, as well as Dublin City University and the University of Glasgow, met in the Biotechnology Building to share ideas and give updates on the progress of their research. The talks were followed by a poster session in Clark Hall, where the work of 47 NBTC projects was on display.

"Nanobiotechnology" refers to a fusion of life sciences with new techniques in the fabrication and manipulation of structures on scales of molecular length. Methods for constructing devices at the nanoscale (on the order of billionths of a meter) are used to investigate how living systems function, develop detectors for particular kinds of cells or biological molecules, and make devices that mimic the processes of living tissues.

For instance, James Turner, professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Albany's Wadsworth Center, described how work in nanobiotechnology is being used to develop prosthetic devices for treating crippling brain ailments, such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. Researchers have developed a "neuroprosthesis" -- a tiny probe implanted into the brain -- that can deliver drugs or electrical stimuli to treat certain brain diseases. One of the central challenges that remains to be overcome in making such devices ready for clinical medicine, said Turner, is improving the interface between the probe and the living brain tissue with which it comes into contact.

Scientists are using the techniques of nanobiotechnology to bring together living cells and microdevices. At the poster session, Kwanchanok Viravaidya, a graduate student in chemical engineering, displayed a device that uses different types of cells to form a system that mimics the way the body metabolizes drugs. In the device, tiny compartments containing cells that perform particular functions represent organs of the body. Nanofabricated channels connect the compartments, allowing fluid to circulate between the compartments without different kinds of cells coming into contact with each other. The device may allow researchers to predict the effects and toxicity of certain drugs on humans without the use of animal testing.

Manfred Lindau, professor of applied and engineering physics at Cornell, spoke about how scientific investigation on the nanoscale is yielding better understanding of how cells work. "Most of the work currently being done in cell biology is on the molecular level, on the nanoscale," said Lindau. The investigation of cell biology on the tiniest of scales is allowing researchers a glimpse into how both healthy and diseased cells function, which will improve the understanding and treatment of many diseases, he said.

Other speakers at the symposium were Terry Michalske, director of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Sandia National Laboratories; Adam Curtis, director of the Centre for Cell Engineering at the University of Glasgow; Edward Cox, professor of molecular biology at Princeton University; Brian MacCraith, director of the National Centre for Sensor Research at Dublin City University; Daniel Larson, graduate student in biophysics at Cornell; Ishrat Kahn, professor of chemistry at Clark Atlanta University; and Mathieu Foquet, postdoctoral researcher in applied and engineering physics at Cornell.