UFMGCluster of nanorods under an electron microscopy:
used in biomedicineUFMG
Cylindrical structures with a thickness millions of times smaller than a human hair could become an important material in several pharmacological and medical procedures within a few years. Called nanorods, they are the research subject of a group led by Professor Luiz Orlando Ladeira of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) Physics Institute. The team succeeded in developing a new way of synthesizing these nanostructures and describing their use in biosensors for the diagnosis of dengue and leishmaniasis. Nanorods are 10 nanometers (nm) in diameter and 30-100 nm in length. “They can, for example, carry on their surface antibodies against each of the four dengue viruses,” says Anderson Caires, of the UFMG group that won a best achievement award from the journal Materials Today in July 2013.
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