A new app to discover the uses of nanotechnologies

Nanoroom és una nova aplicació interactiva de realitat augmentada que permet a l’usuari endinsar-se en el món de les nanotecnologies
Nanoroom és una nova aplicació interactiva de realitat augmentada que permet a l’usuari endinsar-se en el món de les nanotecnologies
Research
(13/02/2018)

Nanoroom is a new interactive app on enhanced reality which allows users to get inside the world of nanotechnology. The app was designed by the Scientific and Technological Centers of the UB (CCiTUB) within the framework of 10alamenos9 project, supported by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT).

Nanoroom és una nova aplicació interactiva de realitat augmentada que permet a l’usuari endinsar-se en el món de les nanotecnologies
Nanoroom és una nova aplicació interactiva de realitat augmentada que permet a l’usuari endinsar-se en el món de les nanotecnologies
Research
13/02/2018

Nanoroom is a new interactive app on enhanced reality which allows users to get inside the world of nanotechnology. The app was designed by the Scientific and Technological Centers of the UB (CCiTUB) within the framework of 10alamenos9 project, supported by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT).

Nanoroom, which is free of charge, gets started by letting users choose five images obtained with a scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Once they enter one of the pictures, an experience on the world of nanotechnology starts. “All experiences come with an explanation and allow users to interact. Also, each of them enables you to know uses of nanotechnologies, either real ones or those under the experimental phase”, says Jordi Díaz, member of CCiTUB and launcher of the app.

One of the experiences lets you discover the functioning of a real treatment that uses nanotechnology in the health field. Following the path of an iron oxide nanoparticle, users can see how this works in an antitumor treatment based on hyperthermia and applied in the brain.

In order for the nanoparticle to fulfil its function, it is linked to an antibody and after being put into the body, it gets attached to the antigen of the cancer cell. Throughout an external magnetic field, it rises the temperature of the nanoparticle, which destroys the cell. 

Another of these proposals in Nanoroom reproduces a laboratory experiment carried out by the team led by Samuel Sánchez, researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), which allows the user to understand how a nanorobot is made, and how it could be potentially applied to the human body.

Images provided by this app were ceded by the CSIC “Walking along the Nanoworld” exhibition. Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, through FECYT, Nanoroom was developed by Obicex Foundation and now is only in spanish.

The app can be downloaded from this link.