About the Project
Cancer nanotechnology is a branch of nanotechnology based on the design and application of nanoparticles for tumour imaging, drug delivery, nanoparticle-based theranostics or cancer diagnostics and treatment. Gold nanoparticles are highly utilised for biomedical applications owing to their low toxicity, ease of fabrication, flexible functionalisation, shape/size tuneability, and high visibility with Electron Microscopy. They represent promising drug carriers and are excellent contrast agents and radiosensitizers.1 Gold nanoparticles can be designed to achieve programmable properties, which represents a winning tool for improvement of radiotherapy outcomes owing to specific tumour dose-enhancement in combination with X-ray therapy. They are also particularly suitable as diagnostic platforms due to their tuneable optical properties, applicable to a range of sensing approaches, which allows the formulation of multimodal nanosensors.
Controlling the anisotropy of the nanoparticle shape while maintaining the shape and size monodispersity is a challenging task in the field of bottom up nanoparticle synthesis but also in physico-chemical characterisation.2
This project aims to develop novel anisotropic gold nano-carriers and nanoparticle libraries for cancer nanotechnology applications while investigating the role of particle anisotropy in the radiation enhancement, and their use as new anticancer medicine. The generation of nanoparticle libraries and varying surface features/geometry is key in order to systematically assess the number of parameters on the radiosensitisation outcome.
The project will be co-supervised by Prof Frederick Currell, the director of the new Centre for Advanced and Interdisciplinary Radiation Research (CAIRR) at the Queen’s University Belfast, where the student will receive additional training for operation of the unique state-of-the-art apparatus specifically designed to perform high throughput radiochemical studies.3,4
The materials developed will be tested with the aims of: i) assessing the role of particles’ anisotropy on radiosensitisation and their possible benefits as radiation nanomedicine agents; ii) testing models of radiochemical processes around nanoparticles from the shape library;3 iii) examining the radiation effects on the nanoparticle coatings. This offers new insights into radiation-triggered drug-release for the development of new radio-chemo transport vectors. The implications of this project offer the state-of-the-art unique testing on instruments and techniques as there are only two systems capable of performing the studies of this type world-wide, both built and designed by Prof. Currell’s team.
The student will be based in the Nano Group led by Dr Zeljka Krpetic at The University of Salford Manchester and will be visit CAIRR at The Queen’s University Belfast for further training and application of the materials produced.
Dr Krpetic has extensive experience in synthesis, functionalisation, characterisation and biological applications of nanoparticles (gold nanoparticles and nanoparticle shape libraries)2,5,6 and formulation of novel analytical approaches to high-resolution nanoparticle characterisation.7,8
Self-funded PhD students or student candidates interested in applying for external fellowship to undertake their PhD in the Nano Group at Salford University (e.g. Newton Fellowship, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions etc.) are encouraged contact the supervisor via email at [Email Address Removed].
For more information on research within the School of Environment and Life Sciences please visit the School research website www.salford.ac.uk/environment-life-sciences/research
References
1. Ž. Krpetić, S. Anguissola, D. Garry, P. M. Kelly, K. A. Dawson. ‘Nanomaterials: Impact on cells and cell organelles’ In: Nanomaterial: Impact on Cell Biology and Medicine. David Capco and Yongsheng Chen Eds. Springer, 2014
2. M. A. C. Potenza, Ž. Krpetić, T. Sanvito, Q. Cai, M. Monopoli, J. M. de Araújo, C. Cella, L. Boselli, V. Castagnola, P. Milani, K. A. Dawson. Detecting the Shape of Anisotropic Gold nanoparticles in Dispersion With Single Patricle Extinction and Scattering. Nanoscale, 2017 (in press)
3. Sicard-Roselli, C.; Brun, E.; Gilles, M.; Baldacchino, G.; Kelsey, C.; McQuaid, H.; Polin, C.; Wardlow, N.; Currell, F.J. A New Mechanism for Hydroxyl Radical Production in Irradiated Nanoparticle Solutions. Small, 2014, 10, 3338-3346.
4. Polin, C.; Wardlow, N.; McQuaid, H.; Orr, P.; Villagomez-Bernabe, B.; Figueira, C.; Alexander, G.; Srigengan, S.; Brun, E.; Gilles, M.; Sicard-Roselli, C.; Currell, F.J. A novel experimental approach to investigate radiolysis processes in liquid samples using collimated radiation sources. Rev. Sci. Instruments, 2015, 86, 035106
5. Ž. Krpetic, S. Saleemi, I. A. Prior, V. Sée, R. Qureshi, M. Brust. Negotiation of Intracellular Membrane Barriers by TAT-Modified Gold Nanoparticles. ACS Nano, 2011, 5, 5195–5201.
6. Ž. Krpetic, I. Singh, W. Su, L. Guerrini, K. Faulds, G. A. Burley, D. Graham. Directed Assembly of DNA-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles Using Pyrrole-Imidazole Polyamides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 143, 8356-8359.
7. P. M. Kelly, C. Åberg, E. Polo, A. O’Connell, J. Cookman, J. Fallon, Ž. Krpetic,* K. A. Dawson*. Biological Identity and Recognition of Nanoparticles: Epitope Mapping of the Biomolecular Corona. Nature Nanotechnology, 2015, 10, 472-479.
8. Ž. Krpetic, A. M. Davidson, M. Volk, R. Lévy, M. Brust, D. L. Cooper. High-Resolution Sizing of Monolayer-Protected Gold Clusters by Differential Centrifugal Sedimentation ACS Nano, 2013, 7, 8881–8890.