Drugs from Plastic Waste

Fungi convert polyethylene waste into pharmacologically useful metabolic products

30-Nov-2022 - Plastic waste is one of the most significant ecological and economic problems of our time. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a chemical–biological method for upcycling polyethylene waste: catalytic cleavage is used to make carboxylic diacids that are ...

'Mushrooms' and 'brushes' help cancer-fighting nanoparticles survive in the body

Optimal polymer coating to preserve nanoparticles

25-Oct-2018 - For a number of innovative and life-saving medical treatments, from organ replacements and skin grafts to cancer therapy and surgery, success often depends on slipping past or fending off the body's immune system. In a recent development, aimed at aiding cancer detection and treatment, Drexel ...

A path to sustainable and biodegradable polyesters

04-Jun-2018 - There's a good chance you've touched something made out of the polyolefin polymer today. It's often used in polyethylene products like plastic bags or polypropylene products like diapers. As useful as polyolefins are in society, they continue to multiply as trash in the environment. Scientists ...

Mimicking biological process, hydrogel signals and releases proteins

27-Oct-2017 - An artificial system using a DNA-laced hydrogel can receive a chemical signal and release the appropriate protein, according to Penn State researchers. Further stimulation by the chemical signal continues to trigger a response. A hydrogel is a network of polymer chains that attract water and can ...

A plastic-eating caterpillar

26-Apr-2017 - Generally speaking, plastic is incredibly resistant to breaking down. That's certainly true of the trillion polyethylene plastic bags that people use each and every year. But researchers reporting in Current Biology on April 24 may be on track to find a solution to plastic waste. The key is a ...

Tiny fibers open new windows into the brain

Three-in-one design allows genetic, chemical, optical, and electrical inputs and outputs.

24-Feb-2017 - For the first time ever, a single flexible fiber no bigger than a human hair has successfully delivered a combination of optical, electrical, and chemical signals back and forth into the brain, putting into practice an idea first proposed two years ago. With some tweaking to further improve its ...

Powerful artificial muscle with fishing line

21-Feb-2014 - Researchers are using fibres from fishing line and sewing thread to create inexpensive artificial muscles that could be used in medical devices, humanoid robots, prosthetic limbs, or woven into fabrics. In a study published in Science, international researchers, including University of British ...

Molecular nano-spies to make light work of disease detection

16-Jan-2014 - A world of cloak-and-dagger pharmaceuticals has come a step closer with the development of stealth compounds programmed to spring into action when they receive the signal. Researchers at the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy have designed and tested large molecular complexes that will ...

All-in-1 nanoparticle: A Swiss Army knife for nanomedicine

29-Jul-2009 - Nanoparticles are being developed to perform a wide range of medical uses – imaging tumors, carrying drugs, delivering pulses of heat. Rather than settling for just one of these, researchers at the University of Washington have combined two nanoparticles in one tiny package. The result is the ...

Slipping through cell walls, nanotubes deliver high-potency punch to cancer tumors in mice

18-Aug-2008 - The problem with using a shotgun to kill a housefly is that even if you get the pest, you'll likely do a lot of damage to your home in the process. Hence the value of the more surgical flyswatter. Cancer researchers have long faced a similar situation in chemotherapy: how to get the most ...