{"id":51646,"date":"2023-06-26T12:12:36","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T16:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/?p=51646"},"modified":"2024-04-01T12:28:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T16:28:38","slug":"nanotechnology-breakthrough-in-budhathoki-research-group-could-support-future-critical-health-tracking-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2023\/06\/nanotechnology-breakthrough-in-budhathoki-research-group-could-support-future-critical-health-tracking-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanotechnology Breakthrough in Budhathoki Research Group Could Support Future, Critical Health-tracking Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

By Sean Cudahy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at NC State University\u2019s Wilson College of Textiles<\/a> are touting breakthrough developments that could prove vital in detecting critical health changes, from chronic conditions like Cystic Fibrosis and diabetes to infections and cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research team, made up of students and faculty members in the Budhathoki Research Group<\/a>, have made significant progress developing sensors and probes built from nanomaterials far smaller than anything the naked eye can see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis tiny tool can solve many big problems,\u201d says Nigar Sultana, a Ph.D candidate in the fiber and polymer science<\/a> program and one of several members of the research team<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite their physical size, though, these innovations could someday be at the heart of new medical technology aimed at simplifying the lives of doctors and patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding health answers through pH readings<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Among the materials currently in development by the Budhathoki Research Group is a pH-reading sensor that could prove integral to future breakthrough biomedical technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes in pH \u2014 a measurement of acidity \u2014 can reveal a lot about a person\u2019s health, from acid reflux to ulcers, eczema, acne and a myriad of other internal medical afflictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a need for constant monitoring of pH changes,\u201d says Sultana, who spearheaded this particular project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a need, though, that\u2019s largely gone unmet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Teresa
Sultana (right) and an undergraduate student at work in Budhathoki-Uprety’s lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it comes to biology, the number of probes or sensors that can actually detect pH changes in the native biological state is very few,\u201d explains Assistant Professor Januka Budhathoki-Uprety<\/a>, who leads the laboratory involved in this research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her team\u2019s work may fill that gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As explained in the group\u2019s October 2022 Royal Society of Chemistry journal article,<\/a> the sensor Sultana and her colleagues developed is made from single-walled carbon nanotubes: rolled-up graphene sheets measuring 50,000 to 100,000 times thinner than a strand of human hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The materials are highly sensitive to their surroundings, making it an \u201cideal candidate,\u201d Sultana says, to catch the subtle pH changes that might someday reveal, say, a metastasizing tumor or a progressing bacterial infection.<\/p>\n\n\n