Untangling the role of microglia in colonising brain tumours through targeted drug delivery

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The Hulme group has developed a Raman-active biodegradable polymer which can be used to generate nanoparticles (NPs) for drug delivery. In collaboration with the Brunton group at Edinburgh we have imaged the selective uptake of these particles in microglia [1]. In this project we will collaborate with the Sieger lab to investigate how the selective delivery of small molecules and/or biologics to microglia via NPs can be used to untangle their many roles in tumour colonisation and tumour proliferation in zebrafish models [2]. Visualisation will be achieved using a combination of fluorescence and Raman microscopy. In particular, we will use a cutting-edge stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscope [3], to track biodegradable NP delivery and uptake in zebrafish and correlate this with phenotypic responses for the first time.