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WSU Establishes Premier Nanobiotechnology Center in Midwest

Small-scale research with large-scale potential is now underway at the WSU School of Medicine’s Nanobiotechnology Center. The center specializes in the study of very small things. How small? A nanometer and smaller.

One nanometer equals one billionth (.000000001) of a meter or one millionth (.000001) of a millimeter. At 80,000 nanometers wide, a human hair seems gigantic, especially when compared to bacteria (1,000 nanometers), a virus (100 nanometers) or an atom, which is just under one nanometer. WSU is capable of imaging and studying a space as small as three atoms.

Using nanotechnology, Dr. Jena was able to prove the existence of fusion pores in live cells.

When you study things at nanometer resolution, you find properties and mechanisms you couldn’t previously observe, said Bhanu Jena, PhD, director of the Nanobiotechnology Center. “This is the next level of our understanding of cells and biomolecules, and the possibilities are endless. We will be able to build computerized molecular tools that are smaller than human cells, and more accurate than we’ve ever imagined. We will be able to design and develop smart drugs and drug delivery systems. And we are changing dogmas about certain cellular and molecular processes.”

In recent years, the development of the atomic force microscope (AFM) has allowed great scientific advances and enabled high-resolution imaging of live cells, intracellular structures and isolated organelles and biomolecules. With this new technology, Wayne State scientists are able to observe previously unknown cellular and subcellular structures and functions at nanometer resolution in real time.

Wayne State’s Nanobiotechnology Center is the only center of its kind in the Midwest. It provides excellence in research, teaching, development and utilization of the newest revolutionary tools in nano-biotechnology. The center is built on close participation with many departments including engineering, physics, bioengineering, and medical sciences. Academic partnerships have already been forged with Iowa State University, University of Vermont, University of California-Los Angeles, and Yale University. Eight research programs have been established under the umbrella of the Nanobiotechnology Center.

Dr. Jena was recruited from Yale to build a nanobiotechnology program at WSU.

“Understanding how cells and biomolecules function will ultimately provide the basis for development of nanoscale devices mimicking biological processes and aid the development of smart drugs and drug delivery systems,” Dr. Jena said.

Imagine his excitement when Dr. Jena found himself looking at porosomes, an entirely new cellular structure that had been suspected, but never before seen. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and years of scientific experience, Dr. Jena was able to provide proof of fusion pores—new structures that have radically changed views on secretion— and provided clear insight into our understanding of the molecular mechanism of membrane fusion and secretion in live cells

While working at Yale in 1997, Dr. Jena and his team reported on a new group of plasma membrane structures in live pancreatic acinar cells. These cells are involved in exocytosis and secrete digestive enzymes. Previously, it was accepted that the final step in exocytosis consisted of the secretory vesicle membrane totally fusing with the cell plasma membrane for release of the vesicle contents. Dr. Jena provided evidence of an entirely different mechanism with high-resolution pictures of “pits and depressions” in the resting acinar cells. The pits and depressions turned out to be sites where membrane-bound secretory vesicles, each measuring 0.2 to 1 micron in size, dock at the plasma membrane, transiently fuse, expel vesicular contents, and then dissociate from the plasma membrane, instead of being incorporated.

“Existing dogmas don’t hold anymore about this fundamental cellular processes,” Dr. Jena said. “Nanobiotechnology will continue to enhance our understanding of cellular and molecular structure and function. This is important in many areas such as regulation of neuro-endocrine disorders, controlling diabetes, understanding secretion of digestive enzymes, and knowing how viruses enter and exit cells.”

With a patent pending on an advanced drug-delivery system, Dr. Jena says nanotechnology has provided novel ways for drugs to precisely target certain cells, eliminating the harmful side effects of drugs that get dispersed randomly throughout the entire body. Specifically, he studied chemotheraputic drug delivery, enabling the development and design of new therapies. “Such targeted and controlled release systems will be able to deliver 1000 times more concentrated drugs to target cells, instead of having low concentration throughout the body, hence affecting normal cells and tissues, resulting in nasty and life-threatening side effects,” he said.

Dr. Jena sees outreach as part of the Nanobiotechnology Center’s mission. “Since this technology has been such a tremendous help in my studies, I have a mission to make investigators a ware o f its p ower and scope,” he said. He participates in many academic and community forums on nanotechnology and authored a book called “Atomic Force Microscopy in Cell Biology” (in press). He also believes it’s important to familiarize young students with the subject, since it will likely be the science of the future.

For more information, visit the center web site at: http://www.med.wayne.edu/ nanobiotech/ nanobiotech.htm

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Continuing Medical Education

Women's Health Lecture Series