10. Understanding The Properties of Gold So that’s bulk gold, BUT… Are the properties of gold the same at the nanoscale?
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13. What Is A Nanoparticle? A nanoparticle is an entity with a width of a few nanometers to a few hundred, containing tens to thousands of atoms. Image: Schatz Group, Northwestern University
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16. The Lycurgus Cup Image: British museum The Lycurgus Cup made by the Romans dates to the fourth century AD. One of the very unusual features of the Cup is its colour . When viewed in reflected light, (in daylight) it appears green . When a light is shone into the cup and transmitted through the glass, it appears red . Optional Research activity: Dichroic glass was used to make this cup, find out what property this glass has.
17. Size & Shape Determines Colour Images: Dr. Chad A. Mirkin, Northwestern University Gold particles in glass 25 nm — red reflected 50 nm — green reflected 100 nm — orange reflected
24. What If? … you could use gold to detect meningococcal infection before it progressed too far? Image: Courtesy of Meningococcal Education, meningococcal.org
25. You Can! Image: Courtesy of Nanotechnology Victoria Pty Ltd Victorian nanotechnology venture Quintain NS is working on a meningococcal diagnostic test that uses gold nanoparticles. The test allows for detection of meningococcal disease in less than fifteen minutes compared to the current tests which can take up to 48 hours .
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Editor's Notes
Gold module - Title Page
Common examples of these prefixes are Gigalitres – water reservoirs Megalitres – swimming pools Micrometres – measuring cells under the microscope Nanometres – size of large molecules Emphasize the correct use of prefixes – ML and mL are very different μ m – discuss the use of Greek alphabet in scientific work
An atom of gold is about 0.288 nanometers in diameter, so the gold nanoparticles are only several times the diameter of a single gold atom. These particles stay suspended in pure deionized water and do not fall to the bottom. It is these suspended particles that make a true colloid .
The ancient Romans were among the world's first nanotechnologists. They worked out how to make red glass using a process that converted gold metal into particles about 10 nanometres across. On this tiny scale - a nanometre is a billionth of a metre, or one-millionth of the size of a pinhead - gold changes colour and glows ruby red. Today, nanotechnologists are trying to exploit - as the Romans unwittingly did - the strange properties of matter, such as new colours, or altered electrical conductivity, strength, or magnetism, that occur when materials are engineered on an extremely small scale
Background information on the Lycurgus cup can be found on the following website: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lycurgus_cup.aspx Or watch the beginning of video 1 for more details Dichroic glass - This extraordinary cup is the only complete example of a very special type of glass, known as dichroic, which changes colour when held up to the light. The opaque green cup turns to a glowing translucent red when light is shone through it. The glass contains tiny amounts of colloidal gold and silver, which give it these unusual optical properties.
At those small sizes, gold no longer glitters gold. Electrons at the surface of the nanoparticles slosh back and forth in unison, absorbing blue and yellow light. But longer-wavelength red light reflects off the particles and passes through the window. Similarly, nanoparticles of silver in stained glass give a bright yellow hue. With much more sophisticated tools, scientists today can make nanoparticles of many more different shapes and sizes. Larger gold spheres appear green or orange; smaller silver ones are blue.
Rapid Meningococcal Diagnostic Test Announced http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=5166 In a world first, Victorian nanotechnology venture Quintain NS has announced a rapid meningococcal diagnostic test. The test will ultimately allow detection of meningococcal disease in less than fifteen minutes compared to the current tests, which can take up to 48 hours. Quintain NS meningococcal test An announcement regarding the filing of a worldwide patent has been made at the AusBiotech national conference in Brisbane. Meningococcal disease affects 700 people in Australia each year. The morbidity rate for those infected with meningococcal disease is 10 per cent, with death often occurring within 12 hours. Around 20 per cent of those affected will have permanent disabilities. The incidence of death and disability resulting from meningococcal disease may be significantly reduced by rapid diagnosis, which would enable antibiotic treatment to be administered at an earlier stage of disease progression. The currently available tests take between 2 and 48 hours, and often involve culturing either blood or cerebrospinal fluid to detect the presence of meningococcal bacteria. The new test has been developed by Quintain NanoSystems (Quintain NS), a vehicle established from Nanotechnology Victoria, a Victorian State Government initiative to assist in the commercialization of nanotechnology research. Nanotechnology exploits phenomena characteristic of materials at a scale of one billionth of a meter. Nanotechnology is likely to revolutionize the medical diagnostics and therapeutics industries over coming decades. The Quintain NS meningococcal test is based on nanoparticle and nanocluster technology developed at RMIT University , one of Australia’s leading bioengineering centres. Nanoparticles of gold are covered with antibodies that attract a protein present on the surface of meningococcal bacteria. In the presence of the meningococcal bacteria, the gold particles ‘cluster’ together. This causes an immediate colour change, providing a simple means of detection for the disease. Dr Jeanette Pritchard, who is leading the diagnostics and imaging activities for Quintain NS, says: “The completion of this patent is an important milestone. The RMIT team has developed a suite of outstanding technologies, with the potential to address many diseases; meningococcal is the first. Filing of provisional patents will protect the Australian invention and we expect that the meningococcal test will be available within 2-3 years.” Dr Anna Lavelle, CEO of AusBiotech, said that the launch of the technology at the AusBiotech Conference in Brisbane will bring it to international attention. “We have some very senior people from the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies coming to Brisbane to see just what Australia has to offer – and Quintain’s invention is just what we excel at – clever technology that is world class,” she said. Dr Peter Binks, CEO of Nanotechnology Victoria, attributed the success to the development team: “This is a great achievement, and tremendous credit should go to the team at RMIT University – Professor David Mainwaring, Dr John Fecondo, and Eddie Grixti – and the NanoVic team – Dr Jeanette Pritchard, Dr Michelle Critchley, and Dr Bob Irving. The combination of superior research from RMIT and commercial orientation from the Quintain team has accelerated the development of a product of real importance to the community”. A prototype device for meningococcal diagnosis is under development.Quintain has combined with leading Melbourne Design house Charlwood to produce a set of novel devices, making the test safe and easy to perform. The devices will be completed by the end of November. Posted 23rd October 2007
