Selective cancer nanoparticle targeting under the microscope

Nanoparticles can be used as powerful vehicles to administer vaccines and prevent serious illness, as with the treatment of COVID-19 and to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer cells with goal of eradicating the cancer cells and leaving the healthy cells unharmed. For cancer patients, this has the potential to reduce severe side effects that originate from the toxicity of chemotherapeutics. Unfortunately, no clinically applied selective nanoparticle treatment (also known as nanotherapeutic) exists yet, with research focusing on improving and understanding current nanotherapeutics. For her Ph.D. research, Laura Woythe took a closer look at nanoparticles and cancer cells to design selective nanotherapeutics using advanced optical microscopy techniques.