Purpose of this document is to provide readers with a glimpse of recent developments in technical sector of nanomaterials. We have compiled this document from reported facts and our sources are also given herein. We firmly believe that this would just be the beginning and there would be many more applications possible of described technique. We are only reporting recent developments, but you might be able to find a new application of the material described herein.

1. Ruchica Kumar
Novocus Legal LLP
11/8/2016
Nanomaterial News Update –
25-31 March 2018

2. Nanocellulose Ruchica Kumar
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INTRODUCTION
Purpose of this document is to provide readers with a glimpse of recent developments in
technical sector of nanomaterials. We have compiled this document from reported facts and
our sources are also given herein.
We firmly believe that this would just be the beginning and there would be many more
applications possible of described technique. We are only reporting recent developments,
but you might be able to find a new application of the material described herein.
SUGAR-COATED NANOSHEETS
Researchers have developed a process for creating ultrathin, self-assembling sheets of
synthetic materials that can function like designer flypaper in selectively binding with viruses,
bacteria, and other pathogens.
Figure illustrates A molecular model of a peptoid nanosheet that shows loop structures in
sugars (orange) that bind to Shiga toxin (shown as a five-color bound structure at upper right).
Credit: Berkeley Lab

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In this way the new platform, developed by a team led by scientists at the U.S. Department
of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), could potentially be used
to inactivate or detect pathogens.
The team, which also included researchers from New York University, created the synthesized
nanosheets at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry, a nanoscale science center, out of self-
assembling, bio-inspired polymers known as peptoids. The study was published earlier this
month in the journal ACS Nano.
The sheets were designed to present simple sugars in a patterned way along their surfaces,
and these sugars, in turn, were demonstrated to selectively bind with several proteins,
including one associated with the Shiga toxin, which causes dysentery. Because the outside
of our cells are flat and covered with sugars, these 2-D nanosheets can effectively mimic cell
surfaces.
3-D-printed model of a Peptoid nanosheet, showing patterned rows of sugars. Credit:
Berkeley Lab

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"It's not just a 'lock and key' - it's like Velcro, with a bunch of little loops that converge on the
target protein together," said Ronald Zuckermann, a scientist at the Molecular Foundry who
led the study. "Now we can mimic a nanoscale feature that is ubiquitous in biology."
He noted that numerous pathogens, from the flu virus to cholera bacteria, bind to sugars on
cell surfaces. So picking the right sugars to bind to the peptoid nanosheets, in the right
distributions, can determine which pathogens will be drawn to them.
"The chemistry we're doing is very modular," Zuckermann added. "We can 'click on' different
sugars, and present them on a well-defined, planar surface. We can control how far apart
they are from each other. We can do this with pretty much any sugar."
The peptoid platform is also more rugged and stable compared to natural biomolecules, he
said, so it can potentially be deployed into the field for tests of bioagents by military personnel
and emergency responders, for example.
And peptoids - an analog to peptides in biology that are chains of amino acids - are cheap and
easy-to-make polymers.
"The chemical information that instructs the molecules to spontaneously assemble into the
sugar-coated sheets is programmed into each molecule during its synthesis," Zuckermann
said. "This work demonstrates our ability to readily engineer sophisticated biomimetic
nanostructures by direct control of the polymer sequence."

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Figure depicts a 3-D ribbon model representing a protein subunit of the Shiga toxin. The
bacteria-produced toxin causes dysentery in humans. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The sugar-coated nanosheets are made in a liquid solution. Zuckermann said if the
nanosheets are used to protect someone from becoming exposed to a pathogen, he could
envision the use of a nasal spray containing the pathogen-binding nanosheets.
The nanosheets could also potentially be used in environmental cleanups to neutralize
specific toxins and pathogens, and the sheets could potentially be scaled to target viruses like
Ebola and bacteria like E. coli, and other pathogens.
In the latest study, the researchers confirmed that the bindings with the targeted proteins
were successful by embedding a fluorescent dye in the sheets and attaching another
fluorescent dye on the target proteins. A color change indicated that a protein was bound to
the nanosheet.
The intensity of this color change can also guide researchers to improve them, and to discover
new nanosheets that could target specific pathogens1.
CRACKING EGGSHELL NANOSTRUCTURE
How is it that fertilized chicken eggs manage to resist fracture from the outside, while at the
same time, are weak enough to break from the inside during chick hatching? It's all in the
eggshell's nanostructure, according to a new study led by McGill University scientists.
1 https://phys.org/news/2018-03-scientists-sugar-coated-nanosheets-pathogens.html
Over their short lifetimes though, bird
eggshells change their strength. For
example, they get thinner and weaker before
hatching begins. Now, researchers
investigating eggshell structure have zeroed
in on the fine structure and mechanical
properties of chicken eggshells, and shell
changes associated with chick hatching.
Credit: Carla Schaffer/ AAAS

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The findings, reported today in Science Advances, could have important implications for food
safety in the agro-industry.
Birds have benefited from millions of years of evolution to make the perfect eggshell, a thin,
protective biomineralized chamber for embryonic growth that contains all the nutrients
required for the growth of a baby chick. The shell, being not too strong, but also not too weak
(being "just right" Goldilocks might say), is resistant to fracture until it's time for hatching.
But what exactly gives bird eggshells these unique features?
To find out, Marc McKee's research team in McGill's Faculty of Dentistry, together with
Richard Chromik's group in Engineering and other colleagues, used new sample-preparation
techniques to expose the interior of the eggshells to study their molecular nanostructure and
mechanical properties.
"Eggshells are notoriously difficult to study by traditional means, because they easily break
when we try to make a thin slice for imaging by electron microscopy," says McKee, who is also
a professor in McGill's Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.
"Thanks to a new focused-ion beam sectioning system recently obtained by McGill's Facility
for Electron Microscopy Research, we were able to accurately and thinly cut the sample and
image the interior of the shell."
Eggshells are made of both inorganic and organic matter, this being calcium-containing
mineral and abundant proteins. Graduate student Dimitra Athanasiadou, the study's first
author, found that a factor determining shell strength is the presence of nanostructured
mineral associated with osteopontin, an eggshell protein also found in composite biological
materials such as bone.
A GLIMPSE INTO EGG BIOLOGY
The results also provide insight into the biology and development of chicken embryos in
fertilized and incubated eggs. Eggs are sufficiently hard when laid and during brooding to
protect them from breaking. As the chick grows inside the eggshell, it needs calcium to form

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its bones. During egg incubation, the inner portion of the shell dissolves to provide this
mineral ion supply, while at the same time weakening the shell enough to be broken by the
hatching chick. Using atomic force microscopy, and electron and X-ray imaging methods,
Professor McKee's team of collaborators found that this dual-function relationship is possible
thanks to minute changes in the shell's nanostructure that occurs during egg incubation.
In parallel experiments, the researchers were also able to re-create a nanostructure similar
to that which they discovered in the shell by adding osteopontin to mineral crystals grown in
the lab. Professor McKee believes that a better understanding of the role of proteins in the
calcification events that drive eggshell hardening and strength through biomineralization
could have important implications for food safety.
"About 10-20% of chicken eggs break or crack, which increases the risk of Salmonella
poisoning," says McKee. "Understanding how mineral nanostructure contributes to shell
strength will allow for selection of genetic traits in laying hens to produce consistently
stronger eggs for enhanced food safety.2"
2 https://phys.org/news/2018-03-eggshell-nanostructure-discovery-important-implications.html