Zapping Tumors with Gold Nanoshells Overview

About this story

A key aspect of nanomedicine is the extraordinary cross-disciplinary collaborations formed – sometimes almost serendipitously- between researchers in different fields.

We especially liked this story because the researchers (physicist Naomi Halas and bioengineer Jennifer West, both from Rice University) were able to describe to us so delightfully how they came together and hatched an idea that could someday lead to relief for millions of cancer patients. But of course the road from the lab to the cure leads through many twists
and turns…

Additional information

Dr. Halas and Dr. West’s experimental cancer therapy is
only one of many different new nanomedicine-based approaches to cancer treatment currently in the pipeline. A good website to learn about other research is nano.cancer.gov.

Though tested in laboratory animals, gold nanoshell cancer therapy (which goes by the trade name AuroLase™) still needs to undergo a full course of human clinical trials before it can be approved for regular use with cancer patients.

Other relevant sites:

• Halas Nanophotonics Group
• Jennifer West
• Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc.