News Release

February 8, 2007

Boise State Researchers Study how Nanoparticles Could be Used to Treat Diseases; Findings Presented at International Conference

Biology professor Denise Wingett, left, is part of an i nterdisciplinary Boise State research team that is studying how nanoparticles could be used to treat diseases. Graduate student Alma Hodzic, right, works in Wingett’s lab . Click to Enlarge Image

A Boise State University research team that studies how nanoparticles could someday be used to help treat multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and other diseases will present its findings at an upcoming international conference.

Denise Wingett, a biology professor at Boise State, will present the team’s research at the Keystone Symposia’s conference on Nanotechnology in Biomedicine Feb. 12-16 in Tahoe City, Calif. Physics professor Alex Punnoose, biology professor Kevin Feris, and several undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students are also part of the BSU team.

The upcoming conference is the first research presentation by the interdisciplinary BSU team, which recently organized to study possible medical applications, as well as possible toxic side effects, of certain kinds of nanoparticles — tiny particles that take on new properties when manipulated on a molecular level.

The use of nanoparticles in everything from sunscreen to stain-resistant pants has raised concerns in recent months because little is known about their potential health and environmental effects. The particles, just atoms wide, are small enough to easily penetrate cells in lungs, brains and other organs.

In laboratory experiments, BSU researchers have shown that nanoparticles have the ability to kill certain types of bacteria while having a minimal effect on human immune cells. The researchers have also successfully linked a variety of antibodies to the nanoparticles.

The initial results are encouraging, said Wingett, because they suggest that nanoparticles could be used to target viruses, bacteria or infected body cells by selectively delivering nanoparticles to the disease site.

In addition, the BSU researchers have shown that at considerably higher concentrations, the nanoparticles preferentially target activated human immune cells and destroy them. These findings suggest that nanoparticles could also be useful to treat auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, where human immune cells attack normal body tissues.

The next step for BSU researchers is to conduct laboratory experiments to see what happens when antibodies are linked to nanoparticles and a cell is then targeted for destruction.

“This is a very promising area of study, and we are very much looking forward to continuing our research in the months ahead,” said Wingett.

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Contact: Denise Wingett, Department of Biology, (208) 426-2921, denisewingett@boisestate.edu
Media contact: Janelle Brown, Communications and Marketing, (208) 426-1790, jbrown2@boisestate.edu

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Last reviewed on Tuesday, February 27, 2007