Imaging gives clues to how nanoparticles attack cancer

In a recently published study, scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute invented a technique for imaging nanoparticle dynamics with atomic resolution as these dynamics occur in a liquid environment. The results will allow the imaging of nanoscale processes, such as the engulfment of nanoparticles into cells.

‘We were stunned to see the large-ranged mobility in such small objects,’ said Deborah Kelly, an assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. ‘We now have a system to watch the behaviours of therapeutic nanoparticles at atomic resolution.’

In the study, Kelly and her colleagues used rod-shaped gold nanoparticles, which are roughly the size of a virus and used to treat various forms of cancer. Once injected, they accumulate in solid tumours. Infrared radiation is then used to heat them and destroy nearby cancerous cells.

To better visualise the gold nanoparticles, the researchers made a vacuum-tight microfluidic chamber by pressing two silicon-nitride semiconductor chips together with a 150nm spacer in between.