Professor Mark Davis from the California Institute of Technology believes that nanotechnology is capable of revolutionizing the way of diagnosing, monitoring and treating cancer.
At the Materials Research Society’s fall meeting, Davis delivered the Fred Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience, in which he described the impact of nanotechnology on treating cancer. His focus was on nanoparticles. In the lecture, he informed that his team is involved in the development of nanoparticles for treating solid tumors and these particles have the potential to develop novel therapies to improve the quality of people’s lives.
Davis then discussed these developments with three other scientists. During that discussion, he informed that test results have shown that nanoparticles delivered their payloads only after their entry into the cancer cells. The results also demonstrated the impact of these therapies on patients and the improvement in their quality of life.
Michael Phelps, Norton Simon Professor and Chair of the University of California Los Angeles’ Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, informed that PET molecular imaging probe is another emerging technology that is capable of rapidly detecting cancer in all types of body tissues and characterizing every detected cancer lesion. All cancer therapies are seeking efficient molecular diagnostics in order to characterize cancer biology.
According to James Heath, Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology and a founding Board member of its Kavli Nanoscience Institute, all evidences show that significant benefits can be achieved when these nanotechnologies are carefully engineered. Anna Barker, Director at the Transformative Healthcare Networks of Arizona State University, stated that nanotechnologies, which are being used for cancer treatment, are improving the efficiency and safety of cancer therapies, while decreasing the toxicity for patients.
Source: http://www.kavlifoundation.org