Binghamton University Research News
  • News
  • Features
  • Faculty
  • Students
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Subscribe

Undergrad explores nanoparticle safety

By Todd R. McAdam • May 8, 2013 • Students•   

Marissa MacAneney has been toying with an idea for a couple of years: Could nanoparticles be used to create digestible forms of otherwise injected medications — durable enough to withstand stomach acids, yet still be absorbed into the bloodstream?

Medications like the insulin she has injected every day since she was 16.

Now, as a biochemistry and neuroscience major at Binghamton University, she’s taking the first steps: helping to understand how nanoparticles can improve rechargeable batteries.

There’s no disconnect here: The skills and knowledge she’ll acquire working on Assistant Professor Gretchen Mahler’s project can be taken in many directions.

The connection, MacAneney said, is this: Industry leaders are interested in using nanoparticles of vanadium oxide as a cathode in rechargeable lithium ion batteries. “But before they can use nanoparticles in batteries, they need to understand the health effects,” she said, both on production workers making the products and the everyday user.

Vanadium in various forms can help lithium batteries store more energy, discharge more power and recharge faster — perfect for any number of smart energy projects from hybrid-electric or all-electric vehicles to household energy storage.

That is, if it doesn’t harm people. Acute vanadium oxide exposure in its larger form has been linked to increased bronchial infections, pneumonia, inflamed tissues and irritated eyes, throat, lungs and nasal tissue — even nervous disorders and paralysis. The health effects of vanadium oxide nanoparticles have never been studied.

“Our hypothesis is that when these nanoparticles come in contact with epithelial cells, it’ll cause inflammation and absorption,” MacAneney said.

The data will help Mahler and a colleague at the State University of New York at Potsdam to prepare a proposal for grant funding. And it’s a good project to help put a new researcher through her paces, using newly acquired skills from eight weeks of lab training.

“I put them through a pretty rigorous training program,” Mahler said. It weeds out people unsuited to a life of research and keeps the new researcher and her colleagues safe. “She is just starting to dive into the nanoparticle work.”

But understanding how a body can absorb nanoparticles relates directly to McAneney’s interest in medication. Insulin today cannot easily survive gastric acids, making oral insulin impractical.

“But can you encapsulate it in something to protect it?” she asked. “It wouldn’t degrade in the stomach.”

Interesting question, and one McAneney plans to keep asking on her way to a doctorate and perhaps a medical degree, too.

Like this article? Please share!
bioengineeringnanoparticlenanoscienceundergraduate research
Student pursues biological solar cell
Engineer tests new solar materials

You Might Also Like

  • Microelectronics industry has its eye on grad student’s research

  • Student pursues research and creative writing

  • Future doctor finds passion for research

  • Student focuses on the ethics of revolution

    Research in the news

    • Modern medicine traces its scientific roots to the Middle Ages

    • Are people born with good balance?

    • Earth to be hit by ‘widespread pest outbreaks’ — and it’s our fault

    • For EV batteries, lithium iron phosphate narrows the gap with nickel, cobalt

    • The revolt of the other mothers

    Recent Comments

    • Resume Format on Computer program spots narcissistic execs
    • Ann Walker on Wasps may provide climate change insights
    • Dejen Habtom on Ancient seawater may yield climate change insights
    • Don Franck on Binghamton battery project wins $500,000; will compete for $100M
    • Dave on Anechoic chamber puts sound to the test
    Binghamton University Binghamton University

    © 2025 Binghamton University State University of New York
    Images used throughout this site are copyright protected. For permission and terms of use, visit the about us page