Metal nanoparticles are being extensively used in various biomedical applications due to their small size to volume ratio and extensive thermal stability. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are an obvious choice due to their amenability of synthesis and functionalization, less toxicity and ease of detection. The present review focuses on various methods of functionalization of GNPs and their applications in biomedical research. Functionalization facilitates targeted delivery of these nanoparticles to various cell types, bioimaging, gene delivery, drug delivery and other therapeutic and diagnostic applications. This review is an amalgamation of recent advances in the field of functionalization of gold nanoparticles and their potential applications in the field of medicine and biology.

Tissue engineered skin substitutes for wound healing have evolved tremendously over the last couple of years. New advances have been made toward developing skin substitutes made up of artificial and natural materials. Engineered skin substitutes are developed from acellular materials or can be synthesized from autologous, allograft, xenogenic, or synthetic sources. Each of these engineered skin substitutes has their advantages and disadvantages. However, to this date, a complete functional skin substitute is not available, and research is continuing to develop a competent full thickness skin substitute product that can vascularize rapidly. There is also a need to redesign the currently available substitutes to make them user friendly, commercially affordable, and viable with longer shelf life. The present review focuses on providing an overview of advances in the field of tissue engineered skin substitute development, the availability of various types, and their application.

Over centuries, the field of regenerative skin tissue engineering has had several advancements to facilitate faster wound healing and thereby restoration of skin. Skin tissue regeneration is mainly based on the use of suitable scaffold matrices. There are several scaffold types, such as porous, fibrous, microsphere, hydrogel, composite and acellular, etc., with discrete advantages and disadvantages. These scaffolds are either made up of highly biocompatible natural biomaterials, such as collagen, chitosan, etc., or synthetic materials, such as polycaprolactone (PCL), and poly-ethylene-glycol (PEG), etc. Composite scaffolds, which are a combination of natural or synthetic biomaterials, are highly biocompatible with improved tensile strength for effective skin tissue regeneration. Appropriate knowledge of the properties, advantages and disadvantages of various biomaterials and scaffolds will accelerate the production of suitable scaffolds for skin tissue regeneration applications. At the same time, emphasis on some of the leading challenges in the field of skin tissue engineering, such as cell interaction with scaffolds, faster cellular proliferation/differentiation, and vascularization of engineered tissues, is inevitable. In this review, we discuss various types of scaffolding approaches and biomaterials used in the field of skin tissue engineering and more importantly their future prospects in skin tissue regeneration efforts.

Peer reviewed article authored by (Vardharajula S, Ali SZ, Tiwari PM, Eroğlu E, Vig K, Dennis VA, Singh SR). Read article or submit your manuscript for publishing.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the leading cause of severe respiratory illnesses including bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young children. In this project, we utilized silver nanoparticles conjugated to various proteins, as well as poly lactic acid, to study the inhibition of RSV infection in cell culture. We selected poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP), recombinant RSV fusion (F) protein, and Bovine Serum Albumin as chemical conjugates with silver nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy. After the cytotoxicity of each of the nanoparticle conjugates was established using the Trypan Blue Exclusion Assay, they were mixed with RSV and added to HEp-2 cells. The effectiveness of RSV inhibition was then evaluated by microscopic examination for syncytia formation and by immunofluorescence microscopy. Our results revealed that PVP-coated silver nanoparticles, which showed low toxicity to cells at low concentrations, inhibited RSV infection by 44%, a significant reduction compared to other controls. In this project, we researched the effectiveness of silver nanoparticles for the inhibition of RSV infection. Based on our results, PVP-coated silver nanoparticles seem to be a promising candidate for future RSV treatment research in animal models.