Chemotherapeutic Coatings Enhance Tumor-Frying Nanoparticles

July 15, 2015

(Nanotechnology Now) – In a move akin to adding chemical weapons to a firebomb, researchers at Duke University have devised a method for making a promising nanoscale cancer treatment even more deadly to tumors. The invention allows an extremely thin layer of hydrogels (think contact lenses) to be deposited on the surface of nanoshells — particles about a hundred nanometers wide designed to absorb infrared light and generate heat. When heated, these special hydrogels lose their water content and release any molecules (such as drugs) trapped within.