Université de Fribourg

Increased uptake of silica nanoparticles in inflamed macrophages but not upon co-exposure to micron-sized particles

Susnik, Eva ; Taladriz-Blanco, Patricia ; Drasler, Barbara ; Balog, Sandor ; Petri-Fink, Alke ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara

In: Cells, 2020, vol. 9, no. 9, p. 2099

Silica nanoparticles (NPs) are widely used in various industrial and biomedical applications. Little is known about the cellular uptake of co-exposed silica particles, as can be expected in our daily life. In addition, an inflamed microenvironment might affect a NP’s uptake and a cell’s physiological response. Herein, prestimulated mouse J774A.1 macrophages with bacterial...

Université de Fribourg

Hemozoin-catalyzed precipitation polymerization as an assay for malaria diagnosis

Rifaie-Graham, Omar ; Pollard, Jonas ; Raccio, Samuel ; Balog, Sandor ; Rusch, Sebastian ; Hernández-Castañeda, María Andrea ; Mantel, Pierre-Yves ; Beck, Hans-Peter ; Bruns, Nico

In: Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 1369

Methods to diagnose malaria are of paramount interest to eradicate the disease. Current methods have severe limitations, as they are either costly or not sensitive enough to detect low levels of parasitemia. Here we report an ultrasensitive, yet low- resource chemical assay for the detection and quantification of hemozoin, a biomarker of all Plasmodium species. Solubilized hemozoin catalyzes...

Université de Fribourg

A rational and iterative process for targeted nanoparticle design and validation

Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura ; Rafiee, Sarah D. ; Reis, Corine ; Milosevic, Ana ; Moore, Thomas L. ; Balog, Sandor ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Rüegg, Curzio ; Petri-Fink, Alke

In: Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2018, vol. 171, p. 579–589

The lack of understanding of fundamental nano-bio interactions, and difficulties in designing particles stable in complex biological environments are major limitations to their translation into biomedical clinical applications. Here we present a multi- parametric approach to fully characterize targeted nanoparticles, and emphasizes the significant effect that each detail in the synthetic...

Université de Fribourg

Biodistribution of single and aggregated gold nanoparticles exposed to the human lung epithelial tissue barrier at the air-liquid interface

Durantie, Estelle ; Vanhecke, Dimitri ; Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura ; Delhaes, Flavien ; Balog, Sandor ; Septiadi, Dedy ; Bourquin, Joel ; Petri-Fink, Alke ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara

In: Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 2017, vol. 14, p. 49

The lung represents the primary entry route for airborne particles into the human body. Most studies addressed possible adverse effects using single (nano)particles, but aerosolic nanoparticles (NPs) tend to aggregate and form structures of several hundreds nm in diameter, changing the physico-chemical properties and interaction with cells. Our aim was to investigate how aggregation might...

Université de Fribourg

Plasmonic nanoparticles and their characterization in physiological fluids

Urban, Dominic A. ; Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura ; Balog, Sandor ; Kinnear, Calum ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Petri-Fink, Alke

In: Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2016, vol. 137, p. 39–49

Nanoparticles possess unique properties beyond that of classical materials, and while these properties can be used for designing a dedicated functionality, they may also pose a problem to living organisms, to human health and the environment. The specific primary routes by which nanoparticles may interact with the human body include inhalation, injection, ingestion and application to the skin....

Université de Fribourg

Nanoparticle polydispersity can strongly affect in vitro dose

Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura ; Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara ; Petri-Fink, Alke ; Balog, Sandor

In: Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 2015, vol. 32, no. 3, p. 321–333

When nanomaterials meet the biological world, the cellular interaction of nanoparticles is routinely assessed in in vitro systems. Establishing dose–response relationships requires that the dose of nanoparticles delivered to the cell is accurate and precise. Nanoparticles as such or coated with high molecular-weight compounds are rarely uniform and the influence of heterogeneity, including...