Lecture IV

Nanomaterials for Biotechnolical Applications

Introduction and Applications

Abstract
With the advancement in the field of nanotechnology, the interaction of nanomaterials and biological systems is of significant interest. Interactions with small organic ligands, therapeutic molecules, DNA, cell membranes and proteins are dependent on colloidal forces and dynamic biophysicochemical interactions as well. These may impart unique characteristics to the nanomaterial and can also regulate response of bio-nano conjugates. A number of nanomaterials have been developed over the years. Their properties usually different from bulk compositions and therefore present numerous avenues of possible applications that were not available previously. Applications in the area of biological sciences and bioengineering are one of the prime focus areas of these new developments primarily due to the umpteen possibilities in the field.

Introduction
Nanotechnology has emerged as the new phase of scientific era. The various shapes and morphologies of nano scale are being used in umpteen application and processes. Nanomaterials are described as chemical substances/materials that are manufactured and used at nano scale range i.e 10-9 m (about 10 thousand times smaller than a single strand of human hair). Their nano scaled size emanates novel characteristics such as increased strength, chemical reactivity or conductivity. These unorthodox features put them forth in the list of those recent technological advancements that has led humanity to rethink their limits. The interface of biology/bioengineering and material sciences is one of the most promising areas of nanotechnology. Nano-biomaterials, as they are popularly known, display distinct biological effects when compared with bulk materials having same chemical composition. Therefore, physico-chemical characterization and their interaction with biological media are essential for optimizing nanoparticle properties. This collaboration between nanotechnology and biology comprises dynamic physical-chemical interactions, kinetics and thermodynamic exchanges between nanomaterial surfaces and biological components (such as small biomolecules, proteins, DNA etc.). Nanotechnology based approaches are also being explored for a variety of biomedical applications such as for drug delivery, bioimaging, tissue engineering and for developing biosensors. A significant number of these approaches make use of nano scale materials or bionanomaterials for developing unique characteristics that are required by the biomedical systems. In this review, we present a summary of various bio-nanomaterials, their advantages and challenges. We will also explore how different nanomaterials have been successfully employed in solving numerous problems in biological sciences and bioengineering.

Nanorods
The shape of the nano sized particles plays a key role in stratifying the purpose of the nano particle. Up till now, out of the many developed different shapes, Nanorods are among the most widely used one. Just as the name suggests, these nano rods are the elongated shaped, nano sized objects which have proved to be useful in many technological amelioration. These are generally manufactured using metals and semiconductors. The easiest and the most cost effective manufacturing is through direct chemical synthesis using specific chemical reagents which act as ligand during the formation and by their capability to combine specifically, they are the shape governing factor for nanorods. The feature that makes nanorods so special is their anisotropic shape i.e. due to their shape, various properties like refractive index, adsorption etc. differ in different direction. Due to availability of two direction in Rods (transverse direction and longitudinal direction), this phenomenon of change in properties can be used very effectively in Biosensing, Imaging and various other important phenomena. The change in the outer environment leads to aligning of these particles in different ways which leads to change in the wavelength they emit, thus acing as a good sensor which changes the color as soon as there is any change in the environment.

Preparation of Gold Nanorods:

As stated above, the best method to synthesize Gold Nanorods is the direct chemical method. The process involves the introduction of Gold Nano particles (spherical in shape) in a growth solution containing Gold salt, Silver Nitrate, Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide acts as the growth directing agent . T binds preferentially to

one side of the spherical gold ann no particles and thus hel lp in formati ion of Gold N Nanorods. O Once , the proc cess if com mpleted, exc cess of Cetyltrimethyl ammonium m bromide is removed d by centrifug gation becau use of the to oxicity assoc ciated with i it. The othe er unreacted species are e also removed because the ey may lead to t change in n morphology y over a prolonged perio od.

Variou us Applicatio ons of Gold N Nanorods : 1. Bio sensing g 2. Drug Deliv very 3. Tracking an nd Imaging 4. Phototherm mal Therapeu utics Drug D Delivery: Intellig gent drug d delivery equ uipment req quires few ba sic things su uch as a bio sensor which can the need of t the drug, rel lease the req quired sense t amount nt and that to oo at the sp pecific site. Gold nanoro ods possess all these p properties. B Being Fig. show ws the TEM micrograph m of Gold G Nanorods s sensitiv ve to ou utside env vironment, gold nanorods s get deform med and this induced deformity lead ds to release e of drug to the specific c site. Thus, the ese nanorod ds possess huge h potential in medic cal science a and may prove substan ntially useful to o increase th he longevity. . There is a need to cha annelize the research mo ore in the p proper direction n.