1. a branch of Nano Science
MUSAB BIN ABDUL QADIR
P0935030
NANOMICROBIOLOGY
NANOMICROBIOLOGY

2. Introduction
Nanotechnology: A term that refers to technological
developments on the nanometre scale.
 Nanomedicine
 Nanoscience
 Nanotechnology is a vast and expanding field.

3. NANOSCIENCE
• The Science of Tiny It’s not biology, physics or
NANOSCIENCE
chemistry. It’s all sciences
Things. that work with the very
• A part of science that small.
studies small stuff.

4. Nanomicrobiology.
Application of nanobiotechnolgy
in microbiology termed as
Nanomicrobiology.
It is the exploration of microbial
cells on the nanoscale.

5. Nanomicrobiology
 The field of microbiology can be divided
into two fields:
 Microscopy- required for visualisation
 ) Molecular biology- genetic and protein
structure of organism

6. Nanomicrobiology and Atomic Force Microscopy
 Nanomicrobiology, the
nanoscale analysis of
microbial cells using
atomic force microscopy
(AFM) is an exciting,
rapidly evolving research
field. Over the past
decade, there has been
tremendous progress in
use of AFM to observe
membrane proteins and
live cells at high
resolution.

7. Atomic Force Microscopy
 AFM- Atomic Force Microscopy-
 New frontier on visualising,
investigating and manipulating
structure on a minute scale.
 Unlike electron microscopy –Has
high resolution images that can
be obtained under physiological
conditions.

8. Atomic Force Microscopy
 Can measure interaction forces on the piconewton range! –
1 piconewton = 10-12 N
 Bacteria have cell wall composed of many layers- possible to
manipulate and see various interactions
 Can be used for bacterial interactions involving the outer layer
used for recognition events between cells.
 Can also visualize individual protein sub-units.

9. Atomic Force Microscopy
 Can also be used with Viruses
 Stacking of virus DNA or RNA can be
seen and capsid properties as well
 Virus particles can be imaged on the
surface of their target cell.
 The overall stability of this
technology can be integrated with
other microscopes and be used
simultaneously.

10. Nanopatch
 Alternative to a syringe/needle
 Array of nano-sized projections on a patch
 5mm x 5mm in size
 3364 densely packed projections
 Each projection is 65 to 110µm in length
 Made of solid silicon and sputter-coated with a thin
100nm layer of gold
 Dry coated with antigen or DNA payload (solubilizes
when wet)

11. Nanopatch
How does it work?
•Applied to your skin
•Projections penetrate into the upper epidermal layers of
your skin
•Once contact is made with your skin the vaccine solubilizes
Why would we use Nanopatch?
•Believed to improve efficacy and efficiency of vaccination
Advantages of Nano Patch:
Needle phobia Pain-free Cheap
Prevent spread of infectious disease
Current Research
•Nanopatch-Targeted Skin Vaccination against West Nile Virus and
Chikungunya Virus in Mice
•Designing a Nanopatch to match the spatial arrangements of APCs on
skin.

12. Nanopatch

13. Silver Nanoparticles
What are Silver Nanoparticles?
 Tiny silver particles 1-100nm
 Toxicity towards bacteria is size dependant
 Most effective when 1-10nm in size
How does it work?
 Silver tends to have a higher affinity to react with
phosphorus and sulfur compounds
 Binds to sulfur-containing proteins in the cell membrane,
cellular proteins and phosphorous containing compounds
(i.e. DNA)
 Leads to morphological distortion of cells and impairment
of bacterial cycles, resulting in cell death

14. Nanomicrobiology Applications
in Energy production

15. Nanomicrobiology Applications
 Production of energy fuels by microbial conversions
along with renewable energy sources can literally
replace the need for oil.
 Microorganisms use raw organic materials to make fuel.
 Can be used to yield- ethanol, hydrogen, methane,
lipids, and butanol.

16. Nanomicrobiology Applications
 Through bioreactors – bacteria
transform the chemical energy
directly into electrical energy.
 Microbial redox systems along
with nanotechnology such as
nano scale wires or tubes can
be utilized for electron
transport.
 Microbial energy conversion
advantage over petroleum and
natural gas-based energy:
environmentally friendly than
fossil fuel technologies.

17. Nanotechnology also encompasses many other fields:
 Medicine
 Robotics
 Genetics
 Computer science
 Etc...
The future is nano!