Two 天美影视传媒 researchers are developing treatments that aim to simultaneously treat cancer and improve patients’ quality of life. For World Cancer Day, UW News asked them to discuss their novel materials and how these materials can treat both the cancer and the patient.
A 天美影视传媒 team led by Miqin Zhang, a professor of materials science and engineering and of neurological surgery, has developed a nanoparticle-based drug delivery system that can ferry a potent anti-cancer drug through the bloodstream safely. Their nanoparticle is derived from chitin, a natural and organic polymer that, among other things, makes up the outer shells of shrimp.
Miqin Zhang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the 天美影视传媒, is looking for ways to help the body heal itself when injury, disease or surgery cause large-scale damage to one type of tissue in particular: skeletal muscle. Her goal is to create a synthetic, porous, biologically compatible “scaffold” that mimics the normal extracellular environment of skeletal muscle 鈥� onto which human cells could migrate and grow new replacement fibers.
In a paper published Sept. 27 in the journal Small, scientists at the 天美影视传媒 describe a new system to encase chemotherapy drugs within tiny, synthetic “nanocarrier” packages, which could be injected into patients and disassembled at the tumor site to release their toxic cargo.