Grant: Operating Grant

The survival of patients with breast cancer improves dramatically when they are diagnosed early. One of the biggest challenges in diagnosing or treating cancer is to be able to delivery enough of a small molecule diagnostic or therapeutic agent to the timor. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the size, shape, and surface chemistry of a delivery system can influence how much of the agent is delivered into a tumor. In my previous CIHR funded grant, we identified specific design parameters for building the optimal delivery vehicle to target tumors. In this renewal application, we propose to use DNA to build these optimal nanoparticle-delivery systems, consisting of a combination of DNA, synthetic polymer polyethylene glycol, and gold nanoparticles to engineer nanosystems of different sizes (20 to 150 nm), shapes (rod, cube, triangles, and oval), and aspect ratios. We will then test the targeting or delivery efficiency in cells, tissues, and in whole animals of each design. Using these biological models, we will be able to identify the optimal design and test how much of an improvement in diagnostic sensitivity. The outcome of this important study is the development of new nanotechnology-based delivery vehicles for diagnosing and treating cancer.