IBN Antibacterial Peptide Nanoparticles Can Combat Fatal Brain Infections

IBN Group Leader Dr Yiyan Yang and her team have just published their results for an effective treatment for brain infections in the world’s leading nanoscience journal Nature Nanotechnology (Impact Factor of 14.917), (DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2009.153)¹. The researchers have engineered novel peptide nanoparticles that can effectively seek out and destroy "superbugs" or multi-drug resistant bacteria, yeast and fungal cells.

The IBN developed technology may have an impact on major brain infections such as meningitis and encephalitis that are a leading cause of death, hearing loss, learning disability and brain damage in patients. The brain membrane is normally impenetrable to most conventional antibiotics because of their size. IBN’s peptide nanoparticles, on the other hand, contain a membrane-penetrating component that enables them to pass through the blood brain barrier to the infected areas of the brain, thus offering a superior alternative to existing treatments. These nanoparticles can also easily enter bacteria, yeast or fungal cells, damage the structure of the pathogens and destabilize them to cause cell death. The researchers have shown that the peptide nanoparticles have high antimicrobial activity and are more effective in killing microbes than conventional pharmaceutical drugs.

^[1] L. Liu, K. Xu, H. Wang, J. P. K. Tan, W. Fan, S. S. Venkatraman, L. Li and Y. Yang, "Self-assembled cationic peptide nanoparticles as an efficient antimicrobial agent", Nature Nanotechnology, (2009) DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2009.153.

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YRP Student Wins International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering Student Poster Competition

IBN is pleased to announce that our Youth Research Attachment (YRP) student, Toh Tai Chong, from Nanyang Technological University’s School of Biological Sciences, has been named the Singapore winner of the Student Poster Competition organized by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) on June 1, 2009. Tai Chong’s winning poster was based on his IBN research project “Osteoinductive Effects of 1a,25 Dihydroxyvitamin D3 on Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells”. During his attachment, he was supervised by IBN Research Scientists Dr Yan-Ru Lou and Dr Zhilian Yue.

The Student Poster Competition is an annual contest held by local ISPE associations and affiliates. Winners will advance to the International Student Poster Competition at the ISEP Annual Meeting, where they will stand to receive cash awards and the opportunity to publish their findings in ISPE's magazine Pharmaceutical Engineering, as well as other chapter/affiliate publications. Tai Chong is the first YRP student to win this prestigious award and he will be representing Singapore at the international ISPE conference in San Diego in November this year. We extend our heartiest congratulations to Tai Chong for his outstanding achievement.

IBN Publication Featured on Cover of Nature Chemistry

The May 2009 issue of Nature Chemistry featured IBN’s breakthrough in mesoporous materials synthesis on its cover. Using a unique surfactant template, IBN scientists recently developed the first tri-continuous mesoporous material – a novel porous structure that had previously only been predicted mathematically. Named IBN-9, this new material is the first hexagonal nanoscale construct with 3 unconnected interwoven channels. It is by far the most complex mesoporous nanostructure to have been synthesized in real life and represents a new class of mesoporous materials. Mesoporous silica materials have large surface areas, making them ideal for use as catalysts and catalyst supports for chemical reactions. Their uniform nanometer-sized pores allow them to separate molecules by size difference. Their porosity may also be used to trap drug molecules for controlled drug release. The ability to tailor the pore structure of mesoporous material is therefore of fundamental importance for various chemical and biological applications.
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IBN Youth Research Program Students Bag 8 Awards at the 2009 Singapore Science and Engineering Fair

A total of 8 Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (SSEF) Awards were won by IBN's Youth Research Program (YRP) students at this year's national science competition organized jointly by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Science Centre Singapore (SCS). IBN YRP students won the SSEF awards for their projects, which were completed under the mentorship of IBN researchers. These awards include 2 Gold Awards, 3 Silver Awards, 2 Bronze Awards and 1 Merit Award. This is the highest number of awards ever won by IBN YRP students in the SSEF competition. Since YRP was launched, IBN YRP students have received 25 SSEF Awards. Read more.

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IBN Researchers First to Transform Carbon Dioxide into Methanol - ‘Very Important’ Paper in Top Chemistry Journal Describes Green Method for Sequestration and Conversion of Green House Gas

Scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have succeeded in unlocking the potential of carbon dioxide – a common greenhouse gas – by converting it into a more useful product. Using organocatalysts, the IBN researchers activated carbon dioxide in a mild and non-toxic process to produce methanol, a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel.

Published recently in leading international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie,[1] IBN’s report has been designated a ‘Hot Paper’ and determined by reviewers to be “very important” – a recognition provided to less than 10% of the journal’s manuscripts.
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IBN Scientists Synthesize Gold to Shed Light on the Inner Workings of Cells - Breakthrough Promises to Revolutionize Disease Detection and Treatment

Researchers from Singapore’s Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have achieved another biomedical breakthrough with highly fluorescent gold nanoclusters for sub-cellular imaging. Their new invention has broad implications for biolabeling and disease diagnosis.

Measuring less than 1 nanometer in diameter, IBN’s gold clusters are much smaller than currently available nanoscale imaging technologies such as semiconducting quantum dots, which are usually at least 3 nanometers in size. Gold nanoclusters are suitable for use within the body as they do not contain toxic metals such as cadmium and lead. Their sub-nanometer size makes it easy to target the nucleus inside the cell for sub-cellular biolabeling and bioimaging. With improved bioimaging at the cell nucleus, scientists can also study the effectiveness of drug and gene therapies. IBN’s research on gold nanoclusters has been recently published in the leading international chemistry journal, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131 (2009) 888-889.
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IBN Wins Two A*STAR Awards

IBN received two awards from Singapore’s Agency for Science and Technology (A*STAR) at the 2009 A*STAR Award Ceremony on April 6. Presented to IBN Executive Director Professor Jackie Y. Ying by A*STAR Chairman Mr Lim Chuan Poh, the awards recognize IBN’s achievements in developing significant intellectual and industrial capital through its research.

Established in 2003, IBN became the first A*STAR research institute to be presented with the Patent Power Award for having the most primary patents filed per budget dollar, attesting to the innovativeness and novelty of its research. To-date, the Institute has filed over 692 patent applications, including 188 primary patents, on its technologies. IBN also received The Outstanding Publications Award for the most publications in high impact journals per scientist among the biomedical research institutes under A*STAR. Since 2003, IBN researchers have published 489 papers in leading scientific journals, including 222 in journals with impact factor greater than 3. In the last fiscal year (April 2008 to March 2009), the Institute published 86 scientific journal papers, including 42 in journals with impact factor greater than 5.

Commented Professor Jackie Ying, "At IBN, we aim to conduct research that has both fundamental scientific importance and great commercial potential. We have carved a niche with our interdisciplinary approach to tackling complex biomedical problems, and I would like to thank our staff and students for their dedication towards making an impact on society through excellence in research."

IBN works at the cutting-edge of bioengineering and nanotechnology, linking multiple disciplines across science, engineering and medicine to produce research breakthroughs that will improve healthcare and our quality of life. The Institute’s research is focused on Drug and Gene Delivery, Cell and Tissue Engineering, Biosensors and Biodevices, and Pharmaceuticals Synthesis and Nanobiotechnology.