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Volume 3 Issue 3, March 2008

Nanocarriers for drug-delivery applications are often functionalized with biological recognition molecules that guide them to their target. However, nanocarriers are often repelled by the body's natural mechanisms for capturing and eliminating foreign material. Now, Mauro Ferrari and colleagues have developed a multistage delivery system based on mesoporous silicon particles that can carry, release over time and deliver two types of nanoparticles into cells. In the new approach, rather than functionalizing every single nanoparticle, they are all loaded into one biocompatible carrier that unloads them at the target, opening up new ways to deliver multiple payloads while avoiding biological barriers. Letter p151

Volume 3 Issue 3

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Editorial

  • How many papers does the typical researcher review in a year? How long do they take? And why do they do it? For the answers, read on.

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Commentary

  • The enormous difference in scale between our everyday world and the nanoworld could explain why so few members of the general public seem to know about nanotechnology.

    • Carl A. Batt
    Commentary

  • An analysis of 30 years of data on patent publications from the US Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office and the Japan Patent Office confirms the dominance of companies and selected academic institutions from the US, Europe and Japan in the commercialization of nanotechnology.

    • Hsinchun Chen
    • Mihail C. Roco
    • Yiling Lin
    Commentary
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Research Highlights

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News & Views

  • The ability to excite extreme states of motion such as shock waves in nanomechanical resonators will provide new insights into the interactions between electrons and phonons.

    • Charles H. Mielke
    • Alexander V. Balatsky
    News & Views

  • Nanoparticles can control the basic functions of cells, and potentially kill cancer cells, by virtue of their size alone without the need for drugs.

    • Mauro Ferrari
    News & Views

  • Researchers have managed to extract electrical energy from environmental noise by exploiting the piezoelectric properties of zinc oxide nanowires with a device that could herald a new generation of local power sources.

    • Thomas Thundat
    News & Views

  • Experiments in magnetic fields suggest that defects are responsible for light emission from silicon nanocrystals. However, when these defects are passivated with hydrogen, quantum effects become responsible for the emission.

    • Ulrich Gösele
    News & Views

  • Nanocrystals of magnetite in magnetic bacteria are known for their high chemical purity, but recent work shows they can be doped with cobalt. This finding could pave the way for the biosynthesis of magnetically tailored nanoparticles.

    • Michael Winklhofer
    News & Views
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Letter

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