Computational models of gold nanoparticles for medical diagnostics and therapy

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The program aims to develop a method for the combined detection, treatment and treatment monitoring of tumours in a way that would revolutionize the detection and treatment of several types of cancer. There has been a lot of interest in utilizing the targeted delivery of gold nano-particles (GNPs) to provide increased "contrast" between tumour and normal tissue for both thermal therapy (which refers to the use of heat to coagulate and destroy tumours) and photoacoustic imaging (the combined use of photons and sound for imaging). Several studies have found that tumour destruction by interstitial laser thermal therapy is greatly enhanced when GNPs are present (known as plasmonic photo-thermal therapy, or PPTT). Recently a few groups have found that regions containing GNPs are brighter in photoacoustic imaging, and one group found that the signal intensity increased three-fold when the particles were coated with silica. There is also evidence that the plasmon resonance peak shifts significantly when functionalized gold nano-rods are heated, caused by the formation of gold nano-chains (GNCs). Therefore the long-term objective of the research program is to utilize the dynamic plasmon behaviour of gold nano-structures for combined photoacoustic tumour detection, PPTT treatment with intrinsic temperature feedback control, and temperature/damage monitoring during PPTT. The more specific, short-term, objectives of the research program are to 1) model photoacoustic signal generation from GNPs; 2) investigate the use of self-assembling GNCs temperature self-regulation in PPTT; and 3) investigate the use of self-assembling for temperature monitoring during PPTT. These objectives will be met by computational models that will be created by coupling a plasmonics model of GNPs that we have developed to another model we have developed on acoustic scattering by viscoelastic objects.