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Plasmonic materials for photothermal therapy of cancer
A promising strategy to fight cancer is to locally heat up tumor tissue with the use of light-absorbing nanoparticles, also called photothermal therapy. Here, novel cost-effective plasmonic materials are developed, optimized and tested.
Keywords: plasmonic
photothermal therapy
cancer
colloidal
laser
biomedical
in vitro
nanoparticles
nanomaterial
Current strategies to fight cancer include radiation and chemotherapy, which typically cause severe side-effects to the body (e.g. loss of hair). A promising alternative is to locally heat up cancerous tissue with the use of light-absorbing nanoparticles, also called photothermal therapy. Typically, expensive gold nanoparticles are employed due to their strong light absorption caused by the plasmonic effect.
The goal of this project is to develop alternative photothermal agents, which are less expensive and also show improved thermal stability. Strategies improve these photothermal agents include tuning of nanoparticle geometry (spherical/rods, core-shell) and composition, which will be studied in close relation to their optical properties. Furthermore, their application for in vitro killing of cancer cells will be evaluated.
Literature
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CS60265F
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201303416
Current strategies to fight cancer include radiation and chemotherapy, which typically cause severe side-effects to the body (e.g. loss of hair). A promising alternative is to locally heat up cancerous tissue with the use of light-absorbing nanoparticles, also called photothermal therapy. Typically, expensive gold nanoparticles are employed due to their strong light absorption caused by the plasmonic effect. The goal of this project is to develop alternative photothermal agents, which are less expensive and also show improved thermal stability. Strategies improve these photothermal agents include tuning of nanoparticle geometry (spherical/rods, core-shell) and composition, which will be studied in close relation to their optical properties. Furthermore, their application for in vitro killing of cancer cells will be evaluated. Literature https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CS60265F http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201303416
The specific goals will be set together with the perspective student according to the time frame of the project, the background of the student and his preferences.
The specific goals will be set together with the perspective student according to the time frame of the project, the background of the student and his preferences.