National Nano Engineering Conference Preview

Dr. Omid Farokhzad is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a practicing physician in the Department of Anesthesiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Farokhzad is also a Nano 50 winner in the Innovator category for his work in nanoparticle drug delivery. Dr. Farokhzad and his team have custom designed tiny nanoparticles so they home in on dangerous prostate cancer cells, and then enter the cells to deliver a lethal dose of chemotherapy. Normal, healthy cells remain unscathed.

The experiments were done first on cells growing in laboratory dishes, and then on mice bearing human prostate tumors. The tumors shrank dramatically, and all of the treated mice survived the study, in contrast to the untreated control animals. “A single injection of our nanoparticles completely eradicated the tumors in five of the seven treated animals, and the remaining animals also had significant tumor reduction, compared to the controls,” said Dr. Farokhzad.

The team tailor-made tiny sponge-like nanoparticles laced with the drug docetaxel. The particles are specifically designed to dissolve in a cell’s internal fluids, releasing the anti-cancer drug either rapidly or slowly, depending on what is needed. These nanoparticles were purposely made from materials that are familiar, and approved for medical applications by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To make sure only the correct cells are hit, the nanoparticles are “decorated” on the outside with targeting molecules called aptamers, tiny chunks of genetic material (RNA). Like homing devices, the aptamers specifically recognize the surface molecules on cancer cells, while avoiding normal cells. In other words, the bus is
driven to the correct depot.

The team chose nanoparticles as drug delivery vehicles because they are so small that living cells readily swallow them when they arrive at the cell’s surface. Particles larger than 200 nanometers are less likely to get swallowed through a cell’s membrane. The team created particles that are about 150 nanometers in size.

Learn more about nanoparticle drug delivery from Dr. Farokhzad in the Pharmaceuticals/Drug Delivery Session at 9:00 am on Thursday, November 15.