Designing nanomedicine to combat diseases is a hot area of scientific research, primarily for treating cancer, but very little is known in the context of atherosclerotic disease. Scientists have engineered a microchip coated with blood vessel cells to learn more about the conditions under which nanoparticles accumulate in the plaque-filled arteries of patients with atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of myocardial infarction and stroke.

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have demonstrated the power of a new drug discovery technique, which allows them to find—relatively quickly and cheaply—antibodies that have a desired effect on cells. The TSRI scientists used the technique to discover two antibodies that protect human cells from a cold virus.

The University of Adelaide has been awarded $23 million in Federal funding to establish a new national Centre of Excellence to develop technologies that will help researchers to create a "window into the body" in ways never achieved before.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Dec. 17, 2013— If scientists can control cellular functions such as movement and development, they can cripple cells and pathogens that are causing disease in the body.