NAPT leaves me with one worry. Shouldn't the heating run the risk of denaturing the drugs inside the metal shell? And at that small of a scale, is this a valid concern?
It depends on what type of drug. If it is a protein, like an antibody, there is more of a chance that it could be damaged (denatured). If it is a small molecule, it wouldn't denature but could be more susceptible to degradation. The fluid environment is pretty good at dissipating small amounts of heat, however.
Thank you Dr. Lipomi for this! I have been watching many of your lectures on nanomedicine/nano-drug delivery to develop a better understanding of the fundamentals of nanomedicine as I am currently doing a PhD in nanomedicine. I would like to note that @42:42 the cleavable ester bond is actually on the right-hand side of the carbonyl group not on the left where the full monomeric structure would look something like this: [(CH3-O-CH3-C=O-)O- ] Thanks again!
You mentioned Kody in the video. Was/is he in your lab and would it be possible for me to get in touch with him to learn more about nanomedicine applied to cancer?
So the last molecular structure shown looked planar, is that how it was drawn for simplicity or is that actually how it works, and if so is the drug held in place using VDW forces?
When working with the metallic shell, specifically heating it up with light to raise the temperature and kill the cancer cells, does the heating kill any cell in close proximity or only the cancer cell? If only the target cell, how is it so precise? Is it because they are small and bound to the surface of the cell?
A heated up nanoparticle will damage all cells that it is close to. It's really important that these particles be targeted to avoid unintentional tissue damage.
