I remember as a kid we were sometimes allowed to mix up a glass of chocolate milk after school.  If we used too much of the chocolate powder or we didn’t mix it properly, we ended up with a bunch of black goo in the bottom of the glass.   And yet when we had the little containers of chocolate milk at school, it didn’t have that problem.  Why was that?

Chocolate milk reminds me a little of particle analysis and the zeta potential of colloids.  Agilent has recently introduced its Series 7000 line of particle analyzers.  (See www.agilent.com/chem/particles for more info) One of the analyzers - the Agilent ZetaProbe - is all about ensuring the stability of the suspension.  As I talk with customers working with colloids not everyone understands the power of using zeta potential to ensure the stability of the suspension. 

If you’re someone dealing with suspensions, let me recommend a couple of resources to learn more about zeta potential.  

Applications notes explaining zeta potential: http://www.chem.agilent.com/scripts/LiteratureResults.asp?iprodinfotype=4&imodel=1765 

e-seminar presentation given by Dr Richard O’Brien, a pioneer in the field of zeta potential: http://www.chem.agilent.com/scripts/LiteratureResults.asp?iprodinfotype=4&imodel=1765

My recommendation - mix yourself a glass of chocolate milk - and read up on zeta potential.  Let me know how it goes! 

Although I’m not a medical doctor, I’m very intrigued with the possibility of nanoparticles becoming the drug delivery mechanism for the future.  Delivering small doses of medicines directly to cancer cells would eliminate the painful chemotherapy that many now have to suffer through.  I’ve had several friends who have gone through this misery and it’s something that I hope researchers and doctors can figure out.

The key is really to use the right sized particle, coated with a molecule that will attract itself to the diseased cell.  Once inside the cell the nanoparticle can deliver enough medicine to kill just that cell and not the healthy cells that may be around it. 

Agilent announced at Pittcon a particle size spectrophotometer that can measure the particle size distribution in the 5 nm to 15 um range - the sweet spot for these drug delivery nanoparticles.   Using our proven UV-VIS spectrophotometer technology the instrument is able to measure and display a wide distribution of particles in suspension in only 5 seconds.   Getting the right-sized nanoparticles should help researchers find the drug delivery mechanism of the future.

If you are looking for a good article on this subject check out this website — http://www.expresspharmaonline.com/20080415/healthcare01.shtml

If you want to learn more about the Agilent 7010 Particle Size Spectrophotometer, check out this website — www.agilent.com/chem/particles

Last week I attended the Pittcon show in New Orleans.  It’s the largest chemical analysis show in the country with all the major analytical equipment suppliers in attendance.   New Orleans went all out to host this large event and it was good to see the city coming alive after Hurrican Katrina. 

From a nanotechnology perspective I was involved in the launch of Agilent’s new Materials Science Solution Unit (MSSU).   The purpose of this group is to focus on the transition of nanotechnology from pure research to new materials made up of nanoscale structures.   Our CEO, Bill Sullivan, hosted a press conference where he introduced Mike Gasparian, the VP / General Manager, of the MSSU.  Mike talked about the newest additions to the Agilent nanotechnology family of products - particle analyzers and optical fluorescence microscopes - and the acquisition of Colloidal Dynamics (known for their electroacoustic zeta potential measurements) and TLL Photonics (known for a revolutionary new digital microscope). 

I’ll have further blogs on these topics in the future - stay tuned.

If you want to know more you should click on TLL Photonics link or visit the Particle Analysis website at www.agilent.com/chem/particles

A colleague and I were discussing some ideas for this nanotechnology blog when we jokingly commented that if we wrote it about the Super Bowl we would probably get a lot more people tuning in to read it.  Out of sheer curiousity I ran a quick Google check on football and nanotechnology and found this interesting article about a contest being run by the American Physical Society.  http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=807

One can win the smallest trophy ever made and a $1000 in cash by creating a video that demonstrates some aspect of physics in American football.  The winner will be announced on Super Bowl Sunday.  Sounds like fun!  Time to dig out your camcorder and go to work. 

The trophy will be built at the Cornell NanoScale Facility (CNF) on a silicon wafer in the shape of a football field.  In case you win the world’s smallest trophy - Agilent would be very happy to sell you an atomic force microscope so you can see it!  (How’s that for a shameless plug!)

When one talks about nanotechnology it’s usually about building something small, maybe out of nanotubes or nanoparticles.  It’s about creating a structure that is stronger, lighter weight, more durable, more flexible, or in some way better when built from the ground up.  It’s rarely (if ever) about tearing something apart or breaking something down into smaller elements. 

 In the world of proteomics it’s about studying proteins, particularly their structures and the role they play in living organisms.  It’s about finding a specific protein of interest in a complex sample, or more specifically separating the protein of interest away from the abundant proteins in the sample.  Not exactly separating the men from the boys or the forest from the trees - but rather it’s the inverse.  It’s separating the baby from the giants or the needle away from the stack of logs.  Not an easy task when you’re dealing with nanoscale devices like proteins.   

 In this article a group at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, used a liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) instrument with three columns to find the protein of interest.  They were able to separate the specific protein of interest away from the huge number of abundant proteins in the sample. 

Check out the application examples on the Agilent Nanotechnology website (www.agilent.com/find/nano) or click here to see this specific example of using an LC-MS for nanotechnology research.

With all the talk in the US about illegal steroid use in athletics, its good to hear about microarrays and bioanalyzers involved in more meaningful research.  The Kaneka Corporation in Japan is using a bioanalyzer to test the RNA of mice to see the effect of licorice flavanoids (not steroids) on gene expression.  I don’t think they will turn these mice into baseball players but it does show the versatility of a bioanalyzer.  The analysis of RNA will hopefully lead to cures to some of our most puzzling diseases.  It’s just another example of this nano world and the measurements that make breakthroughs possible.

Just about the time you think you know every instrument that exists - someone comes up with a new idea.  University of Maryland researchers have come up with something they refer to as a dielectric microwave microscope.  The combination of a microwave source and a AFM probe allows one to send microwave signals to dielectric material and look at the signals that are reflected back to the probe. 

Is this really a microscope?  According to the dictionary - a microscope is an optical instrument having a magnifying lens or a combination of lenses for inspecting objects too small to be seen or too small to be seen distinctly and in detail by the unaided eye.  So in the true sense, this isn’t a microscope because there are no optics and lenses.  However, it does allow one to “view” phenomena that is too small for the naked eye.  And I use the term “view” pretty loosely - a chance to better understand and/or characterize an object (or in this case, dielectric material). 

From my perspective I think we’re going to see a lot more combinations of traditional instruments to characterize / view new types of materials.  I applaud researchers who have found ways to combine different sources and sensors in order to better explain the properties and structures of nano materials.  If you would like to share your combination instruments or solicit ideas on combinational instruments - write back to this blog or send me an email (grant_drenkow@agilent.com). 

We would love to start a dialog on this subject that might lead to better measurements which in turn leads to breakthrough research and hopefully to products to improve our world.  Pretty lofty thoughts - but what you can’t measure … you can’t improve. 

To visit examples of unique measurements in the nano world - check out these application examples.   http://nano.tm.agilent.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=1361&User:LANGUAGE=en-US

If you’re new to the nanotechnology world, you might want to read an article on materials measurements at the nanoscale.  I happen to know the author very well.  The article walks through all the various instruments for making measurements on nanotechnology materials.  Some of them will surprise you as a number of people are using electronic instruments to make surogate measurements.  Check it out - page 10.

http://www.home.agilent.com/upload/cmc_upload/All/amj3_09_11_07.pdf

If you’re new to the nanotechnology world, you might want to read an article on materials measurements at the nanoscale.  I happen to know the author very well.  The article walks through all the various instruments for making measurements on nanotechnology tools.  Some of them will surprise you as a number of people are using electronic instruments to make surogate measurements.  Check it out - page 10.

http://www.home.agilent.com/upload/cmc_upload/All/amj3_09_11_07.pdf

Isn’t it amazing how much you’ve learned over a lifetime?  Did you ever stop to think how much you’ve forgotton?   The human memory is amazing but certainly not fool-proof.  And yet even a whiff of a certain smell or a glimpse of a certain shape can bring back the memories of something in your past.

Electronic memory is also quite amazing, powering digital cameras and MP3 players.  As nanotechnology takes hold the density of the memory will continue to increase, giving us the power to capture and store nearly everything around us.  As the size shrinks, one challenge will be the testing of memory.  When dealing with nanoscale elements on a memory chip it is critical that the electronic signals be very precise. 

Fudan University in China uses a function generator to send very precise nanosecond pulses to its nanoscale memory devices.   Read more about the application in the Application Example section of the Agilent in Nanotechnology website.  http://nano.tm.agilent.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=1238&User:LANGUAGE=en-US