Tag Archives: E. coli

MMA (mixed martial arts) and nano silver wound dressings

I had never, ever expected to mention mixed martial arts (MMA) here but that’s one of the delightful aspects of writing about nanotechnology; you never know where it will take you. A March 9, 2015 news item on Azonano describes the wound situation for athletes and a new product,

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As an MMA Champion athlete, Rich Franklin knows all too well about germs and how easily they spread. During training he dealt with them on a regular basis, but it wasn’t until the first time he had staph, did he realize these infections could cost him a victory. Now, working in a global setting, Franklin trains in locations around the world which leaves him exposed to a plethora of bacteria and fungi. So he teamed up with American Biotech Labs (ABL) to develop Armor Gel, nano silver-based, wound dressing gel that can stay active on the skin for up to seventy-two hours (3 days). Using patented nano silver technology, Armor Gel has been scientifically tested to reduce the levels of bacteria and other pathogens, while forming a protective barrier “armor” over the wound. By shielding the body from external bacterial, the body’s natural healing process can be expedited. Its use is recommended by doctors, trainers, coaches, and athletes alike.

A March 6, 2015 ABL news release on BusinessWire, which originated the news item, provides a little more detail about Armor Gel,

Engineered for today’s modern athletes, Armor Gel is safe, nontoxic and provides a personal first line of defense. Already proven to reduce the levels of MRSA, VRE, pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli, A. niger and Candida albicans, Armor Gel is formulated using a unique and patented 24 SilverSol Technology®.

American Biotech Labs (ABL) was started in 2002 as a nano silver biotech company with the goal of creating a more stable and powerful silver technology for consumer products. …

I am providing a link to the product website (neither the link nor this post are endorsements), you can find out more about Armor Gel here.

Armor Gel was announced previously in a Sept. 16, 2014 ABL news release on PR Newswire, At the time no mention was made of Rich Franklin, their MMA athlete,

American Biotech Labs, LLC, is pleased to announce the availability of three new silver hydrogel wound-dressing products.  The new products will allow American Biotech Labs (ABL) to market in the wound-care market focusing on ultimate sports and fitness, spa and health, and animal markets.

The new over-the-counter (OTC) products will have wound-dressing claims for minor cuts, lacerations, abrasions, 1st and 2nd degree burns, and skin irritations.  The products also have pathogen-inhibiting barrier claims against pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, MRSA and VRE, as well as fungi, such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger.  These new gels can provide a barrier that will help protect wounds for 24 to 72 hours.

The new products will be found under the names of Armor Gel™ (for the ultimate sports and fitness market), ASAP OTC™ (for the spa and health markets), and ASAP Pet Shield® (for the animal market).

Along with the release of these new products, ABL has formed a strategic alliance with Stuart Evey, founder and former chairman of ESPN, and Gary Bernstein, marketing executive and professional photographer and film maker.  ABL will utilize these talented individuals to help introduce these revolutionary new products to high-profile organizations in sports, pet stores, fashion and beauty, medical, and direct-marketing areas, etc.

Said Keith Moeller, ABL Director, “We are very grateful to the numerous top scientists, labs and universities that have helped move this amazing, patented, silver technology forward.  We believe that these products have the ability to impact the future of wound management worldwide.”

Note: Any statements released by American Biotech Labs, LLC that are forward looking are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Editors and investors are cautioned that forward looking statements invoke risk and uncertainties that may affect the company’s business prospects and performance.

You can find out more about ABL and its entire product line here.

Protecting food with copper nanoparticles

It’s usually silver nanoparticles protecting us from bacteria (sports clothing, bandages, food, socks,, etc.)  but this time, according to a July 24, 2013 news item on ScienceDaily, it’s copper,

Microbes lurk almost everywhere, from fresh food and air filters to toilet seats and folding money. Most of the time, they are harmless to humans. But sometimes they aren’t. Every year, thousands of people sicken from E. coli infections and hundreds die in the US alone. Now Michigan Technological University scientist Jaroslaw Drelich has found a new way to get them before they get us.

His innovation relies on copper, an element valued for centuries for its antibiotic properties. Drelich, a professor of materials science and engineering, has discovered how to embed nanoparticles of the red metal into vermiculite, an inexpensive, inert compound sometimes used in potting soil. In preliminary tests on local lake water, it killed 100 percent of E. coli bacteria in the sample. Drelich also found that it was effective in killing Staphylococcus aureus, the common staph bacteria.

The news item was originated by a March 18, 2013 Michigan Technical University news release by Marcia Goodrich (Note: It’s not unusual for an institution to resend a news release which didn’t get much notice the first time). Goodrich’s news release provides more details about Drelich’s commercialization plans for his work,

Bacteria aren’t the only microorganisms that copper can kill. It is also toxic to viruses and fungi. If it were incorporated into food packaging materials, it could help prevent a variety of foodborne diseases, Drelich says.

The copper-vermiculite material mixes well with many other materials, like cardboard and plastic, so it could be used in packing beads, boxes, even cellulose-based egg cartons.

And because the cost is so low—25 cents per pound at most—it would be an inexpensive, effective way to improve the safety of the food supply, especially fruits and vegetables. Drelich is working with the Michigan Tech SmartZone to commercialize the product through his business, Micro Techno Solutions, the recipient of the 2012 Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest Food Safety Innovation Award. He expects to further test the material and eventually license it to companies that pack fresh food.

The material could have many other applications as well. It could be used to treat drinking water, industrial effluent, even sewage.  “I’ve had inquiries from companies interested in purifying water,” Drelich says.

And it could be embedded in products used in public places where disease transmission is a concern: toilet seats, showerheads, even paper toweling.

“When you make a discovery like this, it’s hard to envision all the potential applications,” he says. It could even be mixed into that wad of dollar bills in your wallet. “Money is the most contaminated product on the market.”

The research Drelich performed was discussed in a 2011 paper,

Vermiculite decorated with copper nanoparticles: Novel antibacterial hybrid material by Jaroslaw Drelich, Bowen Li, Patrick Bowen, Jiann-Yang Hwang, Owen Mills, Daniel Hoffman.  Applied Surface Science, Volume 257, Issue 22, 1 September 2011, Pages 9435–9443. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.06.027

This paper is behind a paywall.

Sponging up the toxins in your blood

It doesn’t sound like these nanosponges are going to help you with your hangover but should you have a snakebite, an E. coli infection or other such pore-forming toxin in your blood, engineers at the University of California at San Diego are working on a solution. From the University of California at San Diego Apr. 14, 2103 news release,

Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have invented a “nanosponge” capable of safely removing a broad class of dangerous toxins from the bloodstream – including toxins produced by MRSA, E. coli, poisonous snakes and bees. These nanosponges, which thus far have been studied in mice, can neutralize “pore-forming toxins,” which destroy cells by poking holes in their cell membranes. Unlike other anti-toxin platforms that need to be custom synthesized for individual toxin type, the nanosponges can absorb different pore-forming toxins regardless of their molecular structures. In a study against alpha-haemolysin toxin from MRSA, pre-innoculation with nanosponges enabled 89 percent of mice to survive lethal doses. Administering nanosponges after the lethal dose led to 44 percent survival.

They’ve produced a video about their work,

I like the fact that this therapy isn’t specific but can be used for different toxins (from the news release),

“This is a new way to remove toxins from the bloodstream,” said Liangfang Zhang, a nanoengineering professor at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and the senior author on the study. “Instead of creating specific treatments for individual toxins, we are developing a platform that can neutralize toxins caused by a wide range of pathogens, including MRSA and other antibiotic resistant bacteria,” said Zhang. The work could also lead to non-species-specific therapies for venomous snake bites and bee stings, which would make it more likely that health care providers or at-risk individuals will have life-saving treatments available when they need them most.

Here’s how the nanosponges work (from the news release),

In order to evade the immune system and remain in circulation in the bloodstream, the nanosponges are wrapped in red blood cell membranes. This red blood cell cloaking technology was developed in Liangfang Zhang’s lab at UC San Diego. The researchers previously demonstrated that nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells could be used to deliver cancer-fighting drugs directly to a tumor. …

Red blood cells are one of the primary targets of pore-forming toxins. When a group of toxins all puncture the same cell, forming a pore, uncontrolled ions rush in and the cell dies.

The nanosponges look like red blood cells, and therefore serve as red blood cell decoys that collect the toxins. The nanosponges absorb damaging toxins and divert them away from their cellular targets. The nanosponges had a half-life of 40 hours in the researchers’ experiments in mice. Eventually the liver safely metabolized both the nanosponges and the sequestered toxins, with the liver incurring no discernible damage. [emphasis mine]

It’s reassuring to see that this therapy doesn’t damage as it heals.

For those interested, here’s some technical information about how the nanosponges are created in the laboratory (from the news release),

Each nanosponge has a diameter of approximately 85 nanometers and is made of a biocompatible polymer core wrapped in segments of red blood cells membranes.

Zhang’s team separates the red blood cells from a small sample of blood using a centrifuge and then puts the cells into a solution that causes them to swell and burst, releasing hemoglobin and leaving RBC [red blood cell] skins behind. The skins are then mixed with the ball-shaped nanoparticles until they are coated with a red blood cell membrane.

Just one red blood cell membrane can make thousands of nanosponges, which are 3,000 times smaller than a red blood cell. With a single dose, this army of nanosponges floods the bloodstream, outnumbering red blood cells and intercepting toxins. Based on test-tube experiments, the number of toxins each nanosponge could absorb depended on the toxin. For example, approximately 85 alpha-haemolysin toxin produced by MRSA, 30 stretpolysin-O toxins and 850 melittin monomoers, which are part of bee venom.

In mice, administering nanosponges and alpha-haemolysin toxin simultaneously at a toxin-to-nanosponge ratio of 70:1 neutralized the toxins and caused no discernible damage.

This seems like promising work and, hopefully, they will be testing these nanosponges in human clinical trials soon.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the researchers’ paper,

A biomimetic nanosponge that absorbs pore-forming toxins by Che-Ming J. Hu, Ronnie H. Fang, Jonathan Copp, Brian T. Luk,& Liangfang Zhang. Nature Nanotechnology (2013) doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.54 Published online 14 April 2013

This paper is behind a paywall. (H/T to EurekAlert [Apr. 14, 2013 news release].)

The last time I wrote about nanosponges it was in the context of oil spills in my Apr. 17, 2012 posting.