Pharmacy

Nanoscale materials and technologies that are conventionally used for electronic devices have been combined with individual living cells by a team of Danish investigators. The researchers have shown that cells can grow and function on a carpet of small upright needles made of semiconductors, the so-called nanowires.

Dr Karen Martinez, Group Leader, BioNano Group, Department - Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), explained, "We have developed makes it possible for us to see how the cells function when  they are impaled on carpets of nanowires. We think that the university of   technique has great  copenhagen potential and that  it could be used in laboratories within a couple of years to develop. For example, it could be used by the pharmaceutical industry to test new drugs for a variety of diseases including neurological problems, cancer and heart diseases."

Nanophysicists Jesper Nygard and Claus Sorensen are in charge of the development of nanowires with a diameter of approximately 100 nm, and Dr Martinez is responsible for the knowledge of the function and handling of cells. The project benefits considerably from the interdisciplinary background of Trine Berthing, a PhD student - Nanoscience, who has been working on this project since the beginning of her graduate studies in nanoscience in 2007.