Nanotechnology and health

Modern health care, both at the level of diagnostics and therapy in treatment as well as the proactive strategies aimed at maintaining a healthy population, are inexorably linked to nanotechnology. In the area of treatment we find nanotechnology playing a central role in diagnosis, imaging, drug delivery, therapy and tissue engineering/regeneration including the area of implants. The growing need for personalized therapeutics requires an increase in the understanding of the processes in the cell, and requires much more powerful tools for diagnosis and characterization. At the same time, the understanding of these processes directly impacts pharmaceutical research. This relates to more efficient strategies for diagnosis and treatment to improve health and wellness with reduced cost.

At the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology there are some research groups involved in this subject. These groups are: BPE and BIOS. The MESA+ spin-off companies Medimate, Nanomi, Medspray, Micronit, Capilix and Immunicon also work in this area.

Health

	A consortium of laboratories has secured a grant from the first IOP for Photonic Devices A consortium of laboratories including the Biophysical Engineering Group (BPE) and the Polymer and Biomaterials Group (PBM) of the University of Twente has obtained a grant from the IOP (Innovatiegerichte Onderzoeksprogramma's) for Photonic Devices, a mutual initiative of SenterNovem and STW to stimulate cooperation between research groups and industry. ... read more
	A microfluidic chip to monitor the effect of different drugs on the process of dying cancer cells Monitoring the effect of medication on cancer cells can now take place before treatment and outside of the body, using a special microfluidic chip developed by the Lab-on-a-Chip group of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology. According to scientist Floor Wolbers, this enables doctors to choose the most efficient type and dose of medication, targeted at a specific type of cancer cell. ... read more
	Development of microfluidic cell trap devices for single cell electroporation In the thesis of Ana Valero of the MESA+ BIOS Lab-on-a-chip group the results of the development of microfluidic cell trap devices for single cell electroporation are described, which are to be used for gene transfection. The performance of two types of Lab-on-a-Chip trapping devices was tested using beads and cells, whereas the functionality for single cell electroporation of these chips was verified by means of gene transfection studies. ... read more
	Fast, sensitive sensor for point-of-care viral diagnostics “A Fast, Sensitive Virus Detector: A sensor that measures the concentration of viruses in minutes could make possible a handheld device that cheaply and quickly spots pathogens”. ... read more