To prevent the spread of bugs, scientists in Switzerland have starved microbes of phosphate by using lanthanum oxide nanoparticles. The nanoparticles compete against the microbes for available phosphate and so the microbes can’t grow. The team says that the strategy is of particular technical interest as it can bypass toxic material release and provides an antimicrobial solution with small environmental footprint.
Link to journal article
Phosphate starvation as an antimicrobial strategy: the controllable toxicity of lanthanum oxide nanoparticles
L C Gerber et al
Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc30903c
