High-Z Nanoparticles as radiosensitizers for cancer therapy
Project Title: High-Z Nanoparticles as radiosensitizers for cancer therapy
Project Mentors:
- Primary Faculty Mentor (Name, Affiliation, website and Email/Phone):
Dr. Jin Xie, Ph.D
Associate professor, Department of Chemistry
Email: jinxie@uga.edu
Phone: (706)-542-1933
Website: http://xie.uga.edu/
- Graduate Student/PostDoc mentors (Name, Affiliation and Email/Phone):
Dr. Wen Jiang
Department of Chemistry
Email: Wen.Jiang@uga.edu
Mr. Zhengwei Cao
Department of Chemistry
Email: zwcao@uga.edu
Project Description:
External radiotherapy (RT) remains a mainstay option for cancer treatment. Despite advances in radiation delivery, normal tissue exposure is inevitable. This limits the amount of radiation that can be given to a patient and often times restricts the efficacy of tumor control. To improve, it is proposed that nanoparticles made of high-Z elements are used during radiation therapy. These nanoparticles are expected to accumulate in tumors and, with their large cross-section, enhance energy deposition in tumors and augment cancer cell killing at a given radiation dose. In this project, we aim to synthesize alkaline tungstate nanoparticles and explore their roles as radiosensitizers in radiation therapy.
REU Student Role and Responsibility:
The student will learn how to use hydrothermal method to synthesize CaWO4 nanoparticles of different sizes and coatings. He/she will characterize the resulting the nanoparticles by TEM, DLS, and ICP. The efficiency of the nanoparticles as radiosensitizers will be evaluated both in solutions and with cancer cells.
Required skills or courses for the REU student:
The student should have a good chemistry and biology background. Experiences with cell culture studies are preferred.
Expected Outcome for REU student:
The student will submit an abstract to the BMES annual meeting. If the project is successful, co-author journal publications are expected.
