Imagine a world where
damaged organs in your body -- kidneys, liver, heart -- can be stimulated
to heal themselves. Envision people tragically paralyzed whose injured
spinal cords can be repaired. Think about individuals suffering from the
debilitating effects of Parkinson's or Alzheimer's relieved of their
symptoms -- completely and permanently.
Dr. Samuel I. Stupp, director of the Institute of BioNanotechnology in
Medicine at Northwestern University, is one of a new breed of scientists
combining nanotechnology and biology to enable the body to heal itself --
and who are achieving amazing early results. Dr. Stupp's work suggests that
nanotechnology can be used to mobilize the body's own healing abilities to
repair or regenerate damaged cells.
In a dramatic demonstration of what nanotechnology might achieve in
regenerative medicine, paralyzed lab mice with spinal cord injuries have
regained the ability to walk using their hind limbs six weeks after a
simple injection of a purpose-designed nanomaterial.
A video of Dr. Stupp discussing his groundbreaking research with
collaborator John Kessler is available on April 24 at
http://www.nanotechproject.org/114.
"By injecting molecules that were designed to self-assemble into
nanostructures in the spinal tissue, we have been able to rescue and regrow
rapidly damaged neurons," said Dr. Stupp at an April 23 session hosted by
the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. "The nanofibers -- thousands of
times thinner than a human hair -- are the key to not only preventing the
formation of harmful scar tissue which inhibits spinal cord healing, but to
stimulating the body into regenerating lost or damaged cells."
Stupp's work hinges on a fundamental area of nanotechnology -- self-
assembly -- that someday should enable medical researchers to tailor and
deliver individualized patient treatments in previously unimaginable ways.
Stupp and his coworkers designed molecules with the capacity to
self-assemble into nanofibers once injected into the body with a syringe.
When the nanofibers form they can be immobilized in an area of tissue where
it is necessary to activate some biological process, for example saving
damaged cells or regenerating needed differentiated cells from stem cells.
This same work also has implications for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's,
both diseases in which key brain cells stop working properly.
During his presentation, Dr. Stupp allowed a rare glimpse into ongoing
research with collaborators in Mexico and Canada, showing the impressive
visual of mice recovering from the symptoms of Parkinson's disease after
being exposed to the bioactive nanostructures developed in Stupp's
laboratory at Northwestern University. Stupp also showed another
nanotechnology achievement in joint work with Jon Lomasney at Northwestern
demonstrating the use of nanostructures and proteins to achieve recovery of
heart function after an infarction.
"This research provides an early glimpse into the new and exciting
places where nanotechnology can take us," said Project on Emerging
Nanotechnologies Director David Rejeski at the session, which also served
as the release of the new report NanoFrontiers: Visions for the Future of
Nanotechnology. http://www.nanotechproject.org/114 "This type of work helps
us to see beyond first generation, 'gee-whiz' nanotech applications like
better tennis racquets or anti-static fabrics, and reach for an end to
human suffering from Parkinson's, heart disease, and even cancer."
About Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology entails the measurement, prediction and construction of
materials on the scale of atoms and molecules. A nanometer is one-billionth
of a meter, and nanotechnology typically deals with particles and
structures larger than 1 nanometer, but smaller than 100 nanometers. A
nanometer-size particle is about twice the diameter of a gold atom and a
very small fraction of the size of a living cell. Such a particle can be
seen only with the most powerful microscopes.
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies is an initiative launched by
the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable
Trusts in 2005. It is dedicated to helping business, government and the
public anticipate and manage possible health and environmental implications
of nanotechnology. For more information about the project, log on to
http://www.nanotechproject.org.
