NanoSight,
world-leading manufacturers of unique nanoparticle characterization technology
announce their founder and CTO, Dr Bob Carr, will be speaking at the 2010 Technology
World/NanoForum event at London’s ExCeL centre on December 7th.
This meeting annually showcases UK science & technology and this is the
third year when NanoSight will give a mainstream presentation in the event which
attracts more than 2,000 visitors from all around the world over the two day
meeting. Dr Carr will discuss the potential of nanotechnology for early disease
detection.
Nanosight CTO to Speak About Novel Biomarkers for Early Disease Detection and Treatment
The condition pre-eclampsia in pregnant women remains a prominent cause of
maternal and perinatal death. Pre-eclampsia is symptomless for most of its course
and it is relentlessly progressive. No other complication of pregnancy is so
common and so dangerous for both mother and baby.
Exosomes are 30nm - 100nm vesicles formed in blood as they shed from cells.
Known to have key roles in intercellular communication, exosomes are promising
biomarkers for early detection of pre-eclampsia. To date developments in this
area have been constrained by limitations in the technology available for measurement
of exosomes. Electron microscopy, western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent
assays and conventional flow cytometry all have weaknesses in detection and
characterisation of exosomes.
Working with researchers at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals/University of Oxford,
NanoSight has developed unique technology which can for the first time detect
and phenotype exosomes.
Starting in 2005, NanoSight developed a method of laser illumination which
enables detection and counting of populations of nanoparticles in real time
and with little sample preparation. This method, Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis
(NTA), simultaneously measures sizes of many particles on a particle-by-particle
basis to give a uniquely detailed particle size distribution. Supported by a
grant from The Wellcome Trust, the teams have combined fluorescent labeling
with NTA to produce a capability to speciate these exosomes. This development
effectively extends the power of flow cytometry downwards by one nearly one
order of magnitude to the 50-600nm size range, and will perhaps provide early
detection of a range of thrombosis-related disease.