London, April 23: Scientists have developed a new technique to bind proteins to nanoparticles that can help make drugs "smarter" and more effective at reaching their target.
The new technique decorates gold nanoparticles with a protein of choice so that they can be used to tailor drug to more accurately target an area on the body, such as a cancer tumour.
Gold nanoparticles are spheres made of gold atoms having a diameter of only few billionths of a metre which can be coated with a biological protein and combined with drugs to enable the treatment to travel through the body and reach the affected area.
"Gold nanoparticles are a vital tool in new drug development and drug delivery systems. We have unlocked the key to binding proteins and molecules so that those drugs will be more effective," said Enrico Ferrari, a nanobiotechnologist from Britain's University of Lincoln.
Until now, the proteins used to coat the nanoparticles had to be mixed together with particles which do not have the ability to control the way they bind, possibly making the drug less effective.
However, the new method, published in the journal Nature Communications, enables pharmacologists to place the proteins onto the gold nanoparticles layer by layer in a specific order.
This maintains the integrity of the protein so that the drug is more effective, opening up possibilities for the development of nanomedicine.
"This method might help to design nanomedicines that do not need extensive chemical modification of a protein drug or a nano-carrier and therefore can be developed more easily and faster," Ferrari added.
Researchers took fragments of proteins from bacteria and flatworms, which when fused together were effective at binding to the gold nanoparticle surface and able to form stable bonds to any other protein.
By mixing this fusion protein with gold nanoparticles, it permanently binds to the gold surface while also being able to stably bind a target protein.
The novel method could also potentially be applied to biosensors and diagnostic kits that use gold, such as those used in clinical settings to identify ongoing infections in patients' blood, the researchers said.
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Google Maps lands Assam Police in Nagaland, locals hold them captive mistaking them for criminals
Guwahati, Jan 8: A 16-member team of the Assam Police inadvertently strayed into Nagaland's Mokokchung district during a raid while they were following directions on Google Maps, and was attacked by locals and held captive overnight, an official said on Wednesday.
According to a senior official of Assam Police, the incident occurred on Tuesday night when a team of the Jorhat District Police was carrying out a raid to apprehend an accused.
"It was a tea garden area, which was shown in Assam on Google Maps. However, it was actually inside Nagaland. The team went inside Nagaland in pursuit of the criminal due to confusion and misleading guidance on GPS," he said.
The locals thought the Assam Police team to be some miscreants carrying sophisticated arms and detained them, he said.
"Of the 16 personnel, only three were in uniform and the rest were in civil dress. This also led to confusion among the locals. They also attacked the team and one of our personnel was injured," he added.
Upon receiving the information of the hostile situation in Nagaland, the Jorhat Police immediately contacted Mokokchung Superintendent of Police, who sent a team to the spot to rescue the Assam Police personnel.
"The locals then realised that it was a genuine police team from Assam and released five members, including the injured person.
"They, however, held the remaining 11 persons as captives overnight. They were released in the morning and reached Jorhat later," the official said.
