Hagit Sade has received her MSc in 2006 Bar-Ilan University and her work experience includes, among other things, a QC chemist position in the analytical laboratory of Fischer Pharmaceuticals, and an R&D chemist positions in Virdia, Ltd. She is currently working on her PhD degree under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Paul (Moshe) Lellouche in Bar-Ilan Univeristy.

WS2 and other transition metals dichalcogenides (TMD) nanostructures have superior tribological and mechanical properties. The interest of using them as additives to polymeric matrices is constantly rising. The challenge in successfully incorporating TMD nanostructures in polymeric matrices is that these nanostructures are fairly chemically inert. To date, the functionalization of TMD nanostructures has been less studied than the functionalization of their carbon equivalents. Within this field of research, the functionalization of TMD nanostructures with organic moieties is the least addressed. We present a new, simple method for the functionalization of WS2 NTs with conformal humin-like coatings of different thicknesses. We believe that the present study should expand the range of functionalization options for TMD nanostructures with organic moieties, and could lead to a more beneficial use of these nanostructures’ superior mechanical and other properties in existing and new applications.

Traditional micelles composed of amphiphilic molecules caused low drug loading and less drug stability. To improve the limitation, additionally lipid shell as stabilized to encapsulate micelle can improve high drug leakage and instability resulted from the drug only entrapped in the matrix of amphiphilic polymer. In this study, it was attempted to develop a lecithin stabilized micellar drug delivery system (LSM) for enhancing therapeutic efficacy and minimizing systemic toxicity of docetaxel (DTX). A novel lecithin stabilized micellar docetaxel (LSMD) was prepared by firstly forming a thin film of self assembling micelles containing DTX and subsequently hydrated with lecithin nanosuspension. The physical characteristics of optimized LSMD revealed in Fig 1(A) were summarized as the following: mean size<200nm; encapsulation efficiency>90%; drug loading>5%; stability after reconstitution at RT and 4 oC was >8 hs and >48 hs, respectively. The drug release profiles in Fig 1(B) shows that DTX released from LSMD was slower than that of Tynen (DTX solvent-based formulation) in PBS buffer containing 0.5% Tween 80. LSMD further shows better cytotoxicity than Tynen for CT26 in cell viability assay. The immunofluorescence staining assay indicated that the alpha-tubulin in DU145 treated with LSMD obviously was polymerized and the nucleus was fragmented. The in vivo antitumor efficacy of LSMD was evaluated in the C26 tumor-bearing mice mode. The Fig 1(C) demonstrated LSMD are more efficacious than Tynen. In vivo study, treatment with LSMD leads to high drug accumulation in tumor and maximal tolerance dose was two folds higher than Tynen. In conclusion, lecithin stabilized micellar (LSM) drug delivery systems could be a potential carrier for delivering hydrophobic chemotherapeutic agent that could enhance the efficacy of cancer chemotherapy and reduced toxicity

Yen Ho Lai has attended his PhD at the age of 24 years from National Chiao Tung University in Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is maior in biomaterial. He has published 2 papers in reputed journals.

Neutron capture therapy (NCT) had been demonstrated a non-invasive approach for the selective destruction of cancer cells by radiations emitted from nonradioactive NCT agents upon capturing thermal neutrons. In terms of the chemical agents for NCT, 6Lithium, 10Boron, 157Gadolinium, or 235Uranium nuclides have showed the ability for NCT. Besides the limited delivery of drugs across the blood brain barrier (BBB), no single compound or molecule of NCT agents will be able to target every tumor cell. Therefore, in order to move the NCT therapy to clinical application, it is mandatory to develop the other non-toxic nano-technological and/or cell-based delivery strategies to enhance the biocompatibility and accuracy of NCT for cancer treatment. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) regarding as a cellular vehicle/vector showed a unique tumor-homing tropism for targeted delivery of anticancer substances to animal models of various tumors, including melanoma, glioblastoma, and breast cancer. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common deadly malignancy of the central nervous system. It is crucial to identify the ideal therapeutic protocols to target the tumor tissue while sparing healthy brain. In this report, we develop a MSC-based vehicles terrace that integrate the tumor homing of stem cells (MSC-PVA@fe-SSZ-Gd) and multifunctionalized core-shell Polyvinyl alcohol-derived nanocapsule strengthened by iron oxide (PVA@fe), which was equipped with interior Gd-DTPA surrounding by outer chemotherapeutic drug(Sulfasalazine). We report the first platform of GBM treatment using stem cell-oriented chaperon delivery of magnet-targeted multimodality fucoidan-derived nanoparticle incorporating with both GD-DTPA and SSZ for triple MR cancer imaging, Gd-NCT radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Dr. Min Cheol Chu completed his doctorate at Yokohama National University and was an assistant professor for seven years. He has joined the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) in 2002 and is currently working in the New Functional Materials Metrology Center primarily focusing on the dispersion of nanoparticles. He is also the founder and CEO of GREENSOL Co., Ltd, a nanoparticles dispersion company.

The use of natural ingredients in functional skin care products is on the rise. Women and men alike prefer products made of natural ingredients. Due to increasing interest in skin and health care across the globe, consumers are preferring high-end products and such demands have pushed cosmetics companies to rigorously research for environmentally friendly ingredients and functional oils. With the rising interest in oils used in skin care products, there is also a rise in interest and concern over surfactants and emulsifiers used in oil emulsion. The safety of surfactants has long been an issue; hence recent reports and clinical results have intensified the concerns of many consumers. This research presents a newly developed focused ultrasonic dispersion technology to separate oil from water without the use of surfactants and emulsifiers, thus introducing the production of SF(O/W)NE (Surfactant-free oil in water Nano-emulsion) using this new method.

Xiang Zhao has completed his PhD at the age of 25 years from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is a young resercher and his mian research areas are agricultural chemicals precisely controlled-release technology, nano-biotechnology, and the application of nanomaterials in agriculture.

Food and nutrition security is a pressing grand societal challenge in China, given that China feeds one-fifth of the total population with only 7% of arable land in the world. Finite land, water and other resources of the earth used for agricultural and food production and processing have already largely been exploited. The yield increase for the past decade was primarily due to the technologies, products and applications of agrochemicals, broadly including fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and antimicrobials. Using nanotechnology and nanomaterials to create novel formulations of pesticides and fertilizers has shown great potential in enhancing efficacy, improving bioavailability, and reducing environmental residual. Agrochemical nanoformulations may be developed by two pathways, directly processed into nanoparticles and using nanmaterials as carriers to formulate smart delivery systems. Nanoferlizers and nanopesticides have many advantages over their conventional equivalents such as high efficiency, environmental friendliness, high-targeting delivery and smart controlled release. In addition, the development of nanoformulation for pesticides focuses on enhancing efficacy and reducing spray drift, while fertilizers focuses on problems of bioavailability due to soil chelation, overuse and runoffs. Due to the technological advancement, extensive utilization of nanofertilizers and nanopesticides in crop production has already become more accessible. As a most promising and attractive field of nanotechnology application in agriculture, these novel agrochemical products will bring multiple benefits such as reduced use of chemicals and subsequently reduced water pollution and food product residual contamination, efficient use of agricultural resources, increased soil and environmental qualities.

Joanna Christopher is currently a Ph.D. candidate working under the supervision of Professor Enzo Palombo at the Swinburne University of Technology. Her doctoral work explores the multitarget phytochemicals to combat Alzheimer’s disease against acetylcholinesterase, β-secretase, and glycogen synthase kinase-3β. She holds a BSc in Biochemistry (Distinction) and MSc in Bioinformatics (High Distinction) both from the University of Madras.

A major drawback of polyphenols such as butein in clinical application is the need to administer high doses due to their hydrophobicity and, thus, poor bioavailability. Our previous findings indicate that butein display drug-like properties and can bind and modulate multiple targets of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) such as acetylcholinesterase, -secretase and glycogen synthase kinase 3. In this work, chitosan conjugated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a nanocarrier for butein was explored and found to enhance the solubility and bioavailability. The characterization using scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering revealed that the nanocarriers have a spherical morphology and smooth surface with the particle size in ranging from 106 to 398 nm (mean 200 nm). In vitro release of butein from nanocarriers indicated controlled sustainable release up to 72 h. Data investigation showed that the aqueous solubility of butein nanocapsules was much higher by 735-fold than the butein. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses showed no chemical interaction among chitosan, PEG, and butein, indicating possible weak intermolecular forces like hydrogen bonds. X-ray diffraction revealed butein is scattered in a disordered amorphous state in nanocapsules. Overall, the findings suggest that chitosan–PEG nanocarrier with efficient encapsulation yield and sustained release of the drug is efficient for enhancing hydrophobicity and bioavailability of lipophilic molecules such as butein towards the development of multi-target therapeutic agents for the treatment of AD.