WSU professors Ramazan Asmatulu, Paul Wooley and Shang-You Yang -- along with several graduate students -- are collaborating on research that involves the use of nanotechnology in helping patients undergoing cancer treatment.
Nanotechnology is the creation and application of nanoscale materials. One nanoparticle is about 100,000 times smaller than a strand of hair.
With that technology, the group has created nanomaterials and developed a magnetic-targeted drug delivery system with the goal of localizing as much as possible the cancer drugs to the tumor sites and therefore decreasing the negative effects of the drugs on the body. They've targeted their research on patients with skin and breast cancer.
"Skin and breast cancer patients will be exposed with the lesser amount of cancer drugs, which have too many side effects," Asmatulu says.
So far, they have seen positive results in both "in vitro" studies (using petri dishes and test tubes) and "in vivo" studies (using mice). The group is in the final stages of receiving a patent from the study. In the future, they plan to apply the technology to humans.
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