(Carbon nanotube picture credit: www.bbc.co.uk/news)

Carbon nanotubes - the epitome of the nanotechnology industry - have been found to trigger diseases similar to asbestos in research undertaken on mice including lesions and inflammation.  Use of asbestos triggered a pandemic of lung disease in the 20th Century.

These tiny carbon molecules have remarkable properties that could be used for advanced electronics and materials including medical diagnostics.  They are already known to be incorporated into products such as tennis rackets, bicycle handlebars and baseball bats, where they are used because of their strength and light weight.

In a series of experiments, researchers injected different lengths of multi-walled nanotubes - which comprise two to 50 concentric cylinders - into the abdomen of mice.  Asbestos fibres and tiny flat sheets of carbon were injected into other mice to compare the response.

It was discovered that the long carbon nanotubes were found to be pathogenic. The problem seems to be that cells that usually deal with particles can’t deal with a long, straight shape. 

For example the lung is equipped with a network of cells that engulf foreign particles in a process known as phagocytosis.  These cells can stretch to about 20 microns but beyond 20 microns they start to have trouble enclosing their membrane around a structure.  So they are immobilized, they can’t move properly so they can’t clear material from the lung. They are in a hyperactivated state which leads to inflammation, scarring and probably cancer in the long term.

However, the researchers said the link between long, straight, multi-walled carbon nanotubes and cancers was not proven.

Elaine Warburton   www.geneticsandhealth.com

Dr Leonid Ponomarenko shows off a device with the transistor embedded

(Photo courtesy of BBC News)

Dr Kostya Novoselov and Professor Andre Geim from The School of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Manchester have built the world’s smallest transistor - one atom thick and 10 atoms wide - out of a material that could one day replace silicon.

The transistor, essentially an on/off switch, has been made using graphene, a two-dimensional material first discovered only four years ago. Graphene is a single layer of graphite, which is found in the humble pencil.

The transistor is the key building block of microchips and the basis for almost all electronics.

Graphene has been hailed as a super material because it has many potential applications. It is a flat molecule, with only the thickness of an atom, and both very stable and robust.

The researchers are also looking at its use in display technology - because it is transparent.

Elaine Warburton  www.geneticsandhealth.com

In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Genentech (check out their domain name, is that perfect or what?) has donated $2.5 million to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). The gift will be used to establish the Genentech Center for the History of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the CSHL Carnegie Building where genetics research got its start. The work of molecular biology pioneers will be archived at the Center:

• James D. Watson
• Sydney Brenner
• Barbara McClintock
• Hermann J. Muller

San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2006