What is Graphene Oxide?

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What is graphene oxide?

“Graphene is considered to be the strongest material in the world, as well as one of the most conductive to electricity and heat. Graphene has endless potential applications, in almost every industry (like electronics, medicine, aviation and much more).”

“As graphene is expensive and relatively hard to produce, great efforts are made to find effective yet inexpensive ways to make and use graphene derivatives or related materials. Graphene oxide (GO) is one of those materials – it is a single-atomic layered material, made
by the powerful oxidation of graphite, which is cheap and abundant.

Graphene oxide is an oxidized form of graphene, laced withoxygen-containing groups. It is considered easy to process since it is
dispersible in water (and other solvents), and it can even be used to make graphene. Graphene oxide is not a good conductor, but processes exist to augment its properties.”

“Graphene oxide is fluorescent, which makes it especially appropriate for various medical applications. bio-sensing and disease detection, drug-carriers and antibacterial materials are just some of the possibilities GO holds for the biomedical field.”

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Graphenea joins the fight against Covid-19

With the emergence of the Covid-19 virus and its global threat, Graphenea initiated several steps to try and help those trying to combat this crisis. On March 16^th, Graphenea approached all those performing research on treatment and diagnosis of Covid-19, to offer free graphene.

Now, Graphenea announced the production of a disinfectant alcohol-based hydrogel following World Health Organization recommendations and pharmaceutical guidelines. As part of its effort to join the battle against COVID-19, Graphenea will donate the hand sanitizer to public authorities for use in hospitals, by seniors, police and/or military personnel. The aim is to protect medical personnel, high risk groups, and law enforcement agents against the virus.

Graphenea will use its nanotechnology-grade laboratories to assure quality and traceability, as well as production in a contaminant-free environment. Graphenea’s production capacity is several metric tons a week.

Graphene-Info commends Graphenea’s actions and wishes everyone health and a quick end to the Covid-19 situation.

Graphene oxide gives a boost to new intranasal flu vaccine

Researchers at Georgia State University and Emory University have developed an intranasal influenza vaccine using recombinant hemagglutinin (HA), a protein found on the surface of influenza viruses, as the antigen component of the vaccine.

They also created a two-dimensional nanomaterial (polyethyleneimine-functionalized graphene oxide nanoparticles) and found that it displayed potent adjuvant (immunoenhancing) effects on influenza vaccines delivered intranasally.

“In our study, we reported for the first time that two-dimensional graphene oxide nanomaterials had a potent adjuvant effect in boosting the immune responses of intranasal hemagglutinin (HA) vaccines,” said Dr. Chunhong Dong, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral research Fellow in Dr. Baozhong Wang’s lab in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences.

“This study gives new insights into developing high performance intranasal vaccine systems with two-dimensional sheet-like nanoparticles,” Dong said. “The graphene oxide nanoparticles have extraordinary attributes for drug delivery or vaccine development, such as the ultra-large surface area for high-density antigen loading, and the vaccine showed superior immunoenhancing properties in vitro and in vivo. The nanoplatform could be easily adapted for constructing mucosal vaccines for different respiratory pathogens.”

The study, conducted in mice and cell culture, found the nanoparticles significantly enhanced immune responses at mucosal surfaces and throughout the body in mice. The robust immune responses conferred immune protection against influenza virus challenges by homologous (same) virus strains and heterologous (different) virus strains.

The results are also promising because needle-free, intranasal influenza vaccines possess superior logistical advantages over traditional injectable vaccines, such as easy administration with high acceptance for recipients and the avoidance of biohazardous waste.

1. Source: https://news.gsu.edu/2021/05/03/intranasal-influenza-vaccine-enhances-immune-response-and-offers-broad-protection-biomedical-sciences-researchers-find/

2. Source: https://www.graphene-info.com/graphene-oxide

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