Nanoparticles Can Block Cell Pores

Multi-institutional research team publishes research results in the American scientific journal PNAS

Researchers from RWTH Aachen, the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the company Cytocentrics, Rostock, have published current research results in the prestigious US-American journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America,” PNAS for short.

Over the last three years, the interdisciplinary team has been investigating the influence of ultra-small gold particles on cells. The researchers were able to demonstrate in experiments that due to their small size, nanoparticles can attach to functional target structures. This finding is important for the evaluation of the cell-toxic properties of nanomaterials as well as for the development of new active principles at the cellular level. The researchers hope to be able to modify gold particles in such a way as to precisely adjust their cell-toxic properties, especially with respect to certain cancer cells.

This research is supported through funding from the German Research Foundation, DFG for short. The RWTH scientists involved in the research project are Professor Ulrich Simon from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Prof. Wilhelm Jahnen-Dechent from the Teaching and Research Area for Cell and Molecular Biology of Surfaces.