National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) and the Goa Univ...
The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) and the Goa University (GU) have successfully synthesised gold nanoparticles (GNPs) using psychrotolerant Antarctic bacteria through a non-toxic, low-cost, and eco-friendly way.
These GNPs can be used as a composite therapeutic agent clinical trials, especially in anti-cancer, anti-viral, antidiabetic, and cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Nanoparticles (NPs) have a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical and electronics research. Metallic NPs have been efficiently exploited for biomedical applications, and among them, GNPs are found to be effective in biomedical research.
GNPs also have unique physicochemical properties. Their biocompatibility, high surface area, stability, and nontoxicity, make them suitable for various therapeutic use applications, including detection and diagnosis of diseases, bio-labelling, and targeted drug delivery. As nano-carriers, GNPs can transfer various drugs made out of peptides, proteins, plasmid DNAs, small interfering RNAs, and chemotherapeutic agents to target diseased cells of the human body.
GNPs are also found to be useful in the electronics industry. Scientists have constructed a transistor known as NOMFET (Nanoparticle Organic Memory Field-Effect Transistor) by embedding GNPs in a porous manganese oxide as a room temperature catalyst down volatile organic compound in air and combining GNPs with organic molecules.