Final Report Summary - NACBO (Novel and improved nanomaterials, chemistries and apparatus for nanobiotechnology)
The NACBO project engaged in the research, development and commercialisation of a wide range of scientific disciplines such as materials science, materials chemistry as well as support of hardware systems. It aimed to deliver enhanced or novel solutions to current and emerging needs dictated by scientific areas such as biology, health, chemistry, process engineering and environment. The project's outputs mostly addressed molecular diagnostics.
The specific objectives of the project are listed below:
- to fabricate, characterise and compare nanocomposite materials from carbon, magnetite and silica constituent elements in the form of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, self-assembling macromolecular structures-their activated forms- nanoporous flat surface materials, nanoparticulate silica-magnetite composites, silica mesoporous molecular sieves as well as nanorods;
- to introduce novel chemical methods associated with the immobilisation, activation and marking of surfaces. The chemistries would be based on chiral pyrrole compounds, carbazole polymers, perfluorbutadiene compounds, polyaniline polymers and dendrimer molecules. Furthermore, research has been performed into contrasting materials, namely quantum dots and modified fluorescent nucleic acids;
- to design and fabricate biological / non-biological composites for use in drug delivery and medicine;
- to introduce new chemical methods concerning the synthesis of nucleic acids through the design and synthesis of novel nucleoside monomer synthons;
- to design and select ligands for immobilisation of nanomaterials and demonstrate their use in diagnostic monitoring in health, in the monitoring of food quality and environment;
- to innovate, produce and test integrated hardware platforms by realising combinations of materials and of chemical methods either in vitro or in whole live organisms as well as enhance environmental diagnostic procedures based on biosensors, biochips, bioarrays and improve imaging platforms such as X-ray Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), etc.;
to toxicologically evaluate all materials, chemical methods and combinations to assess the bioenvironmental compatibility.
The specific objectives of the project are listed below:
- to fabricate, characterise and compare nanocomposite materials from carbon, magnetite and silica constituent elements in the form of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, self-assembling macromolecular structures-their activated forms- nanoporous flat surface materials, nanoparticulate silica-magnetite composites, silica mesoporous molecular sieves as well as nanorods;
- to introduce novel chemical methods associated with the immobilisation, activation and marking of surfaces. The chemistries would be based on chiral pyrrole compounds, carbazole polymers, perfluorbutadiene compounds, polyaniline polymers and dendrimer molecules. Furthermore, research has been performed into contrasting materials, namely quantum dots and modified fluorescent nucleic acids;
- to design and fabricate biological / non-biological composites for use in drug delivery and medicine;
- to introduce new chemical methods concerning the synthesis of nucleic acids through the design and synthesis of novel nucleoside monomer synthons;
- to design and select ligands for immobilisation of nanomaterials and demonstrate their use in diagnostic monitoring in health, in the monitoring of food quality and environment;
- to innovate, produce and test integrated hardware platforms by realising combinations of materials and of chemical methods either in vitro or in whole live organisms as well as enhance environmental diagnostic procedures based on biosensors, biochips, bioarrays and improve imaging platforms such as X-ray Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), etc.;
to toxicologically evaluate all materials, chemical methods and combinations to assess the bioenvironmental compatibility.