Nano News: 01/30/15

Best practice guide for the safe handling and use of nanoparticles in packaging industries

A novel “Best Practice Guide for the Safe Handling and Use of Nanoparticles in Packaging Industries” is now available to support those working with nanomaterials at all stages in the development of packaging products. NanoSafePack mini guide

The Best Practice Guide is the final output of NanoSafePack, a 36 month project funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The development of the guide was informed by novel research activities undertaken as part of this project, as well as wider state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of nanosafety.

Primarily intended for use by SMEs and larger companies involved in the manufacture of polymer-based nanocomposites for packaging applications, the Best Practice Guide provides practical advice and recommendations which are easy to understand, use and apply in an industrial setting. This includes technical information concerning the specific applications and properties of nanofillers and polymer-based nanocomposites, as well as new scientific knowledge and guidance on environmental, health, and safety issues.

To accompany the full version of Best Practice Guide, a shorter Mini-Guide has also been developed, which is freely available in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. The Mini-Guide, available to download from the NanoSafePack website, provides an overview of:

the main benefits of nanotechnology in the packaging industry;

the structure and contents of the full version of the Best Practice Guide; and

recommendations for the safe handling and use of nanofillers and polymer-based nanocomposites, demonstrated using a number of case studies.

Further information and contact details are provided within the Mini-Guide on how to obtain the full version of the Best Practice Guide. About the NanoSafePack project The research leading to the development of the best practice guide has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. 286362 – NanoSafePack. The main aim of the NanoSafePack project was to develop a best practices guide to allow the safe handling and use of nanomaterials in packaging industries, considering integrated strategies to control the exposure to nanoparticles in industrial settings, and provide SMEs with scientific data to minimise and control nanoparticle release and migration from the polymer nanocomposites placed on the market. To achieve this aim, a complete hazard and exposure assessment was conducted to obtain new scientific data about the safety of polymer composites reinforced using nanometer-sized particles. An evaluation of the effectiveness of risk management measures was also undertaken in order to select and design practical and cost effective strategies for implementation in industrial settings. In addition, a life cycle assessment of nanocomposites was performed, by evaluating their impacts during the processes of manufacture, use and disposal. Results of these studies have been used in combination with state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of nanosafety to inform the development of this guide. The NanoSafePack Consortium consists of 7 European organisations, namely: Techni-Plasper, S.L.; Centro Español de Plásticos (CEP); Associação Portuguesa da Indústria de Plásticos (APIP); European Plastics Converters (EuPC); Instituto Tecnológico del Embalaje, Transporte y Logística (Itene); Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM); and Tec Star s.r.l.

DNA nanoswitches reveal how life's molecules connect (w/video)

A complex interplay of molecular components governs almost all aspects of biological sciences — healthy organism development, disease progression, and drug efficacy are all dependent on the way life's molecules interact in the body. Understanding these bio–molecular interactions is critical for the discovery of new, more effective therapeutics and diagnostics to treat cancer and other diseases, but currently requires scientists to have access to expensive and elaborate laboratory equipment. Now, a new approach developed by researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School promises a much faster and more affordable way to examine bio–molecular behavior, opening the door for scientists in virtually any laboratory world–wide to join the quest for creating better drugs. The findings are published in February's issue of ("DNA nanoswitches: a quantitative platform for gel-based biomolecular interaction analysis").

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"Bio–molecular interaction analysis, a cornerstone of biomedical research, is traditionally accomplished using equipment that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Wyss Associate Faculty member Wesley P. Wong, Ph.D., senior author of study. "Rather than develop a new instrument, we've created a nanoscale tool made from strands of DNA that can detect and report how molecules behave, enabling biological measurements to be made by almost anyone, using only common and inexpensive laboratory reagents." Wong, who is also Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School in the Departments of Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology and Pediatrics and Investigator at the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital, calls the new tools DNA "nanoswitches". Nanoswitches comprise strands of DNA onto which molecules of interest can be strategically attached at various locations along the strand. Interactions between these molecules, such as successful binding of a drug compound with its intended target, such as a protein receptor on a cancer cell, cause the shape of the DNA strand to change from an open and linear shape to a closed loop. Wong and his team can easily separate and measure the ratio of open DNA nanoswitches vs. their closed counterparts through gel electrophoresis, a simple lab procedure already in use in most laboratories, that uses electrical currents to push DNA strands through small pores in a gel, sorting them based on their shape. "Our DNA nanoswitches dramatically lower barriers to making traditionally complex measurements," said co–first author Ken Halvorsen, formerly of the Wyss Institute and currently a scientist at the RNA Institute at University of Albany. "All of these supplies are commonly available and the experiments can be performed for pennies per sample, which is a staggering comparison to the cost of conventional equipment used to test bio–molecular interactions." To encourage adoption of this method, Wong and his team are offering free materials to colleagues who would like to try using their DNA nanoswitches. "We've not only created starter kits but have outlined a step–by–step protocol to allow others to immediately implement this method for research in their own labs, or classrooms," said co–first author Mounir Koussa, a Ph.D. candidate in neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. "Wesley and his team are committed to making an impact on the way bio–molecular research is done at a fundamental level, as is evidenced by their efforts to make this technology accessible to labs everywhere," said Wyss Institute Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School and a Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard SEAS. "Biomedical researchers all over the world can start using this new method right away to investigate how biological compounds interact with their targets, using commonly–available supplies at very low cost." Anyone interested in learning more about how to use DNA nanoswitches in their lab can watch a protocol video series and request free materials for making them at http://bit.ly/1A5N6EP.

Pinholes are pitfalls for high performance solar cells

The most popular next-generation solar cells under development may have a problem – the top layer is full of tiny pinholes, researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in Japan have found. The majority of high-performance solar cells under development use a combination of materials including perovskite and spiro-MeOTAD. These cells are far cheaper than traditional silicon-based solar cells, and their efficiency has been increasing significantly in the past few years. But perovskite, which is the layer that converts sunlight to electricity, degrades quickly.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) images show pinholes in the spiro-MeOTAD when it is first prepared (top) and after air exposure for 24 hours (bottom). The average diameter of the pinholes is about 135 nanometers, with some as large as two microns. OIST researchers believe they have identified a key culprit for this problem. Miniscule pinholes in the spiro-MeOTAD layer -- so small they cannot be seen even with a light microscope -- may be creating easy pathways for water and other gas molecules in air to diffuse through the thin film and degrade the perovskite. “These pinholes may play a major role in the degradation of the lifetime of the solar cells,” said Zafer Hawash, a PhD student at OIST who discovered the pinholes. His findings were recently published in the journal ("Air-Exposure Induced Dopant Redistribution and Energy Level Shifts in Spin-Coated Spiro-MeOTAD Films"). Hawash noticed the pinholes while analyzing how independent components of air, like water, oxygen and nitrogen, interact with spiro-MeOTAD. At first he didn’t think they were important, but when he started looking into it, he found no mention of them in the scientific literature. “No one has really mentioned this,” said Hawash, who works in OIST’sEnergy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit. “I started realizing it was something important to report, to let people know these pinholes exist and that we should get rid of them to get better lifetime.” The pinholes appear to be related to how the spiro-MeOTAD layer is usually made – a solution is spin-coated onto a base layer to create a thin film a fraction of the thickness of a human hair. Another preparation method, vacuum evaporation, does not produce the pinholes, but is less convenient to use, explained Dr. Luis Ono, an Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit group leader and paper co-author. The OIST team is looking into how they can eliminate the pinholes while still keeping the cost low, perhaps by tweaking preparation process or adding other ingredients. “Currently we are making efforts in finding a way to fix the problem of the pinholes,” said Professor Yabing Qi, who heads the Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit. This latest finding builds on the Qi’s lab ongoing work to overcome the instabilities in perovskite solar cells and develop low-cost solar power.