Speaker:
Dr Andrew Thorley, Faculty of Medicine, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London
Abstract:
In the last ten years there has been an overwhelming amount of research in to the potential adverse health effects of engineered nanoparticles. A significant focus of the research in our laboratories has been on the biological effects of nanoparticles on the human respiratory system, as inhalation is considered one of the primary routes of exposure. In this talk, I will discuss how the physicochemical properties of engineered nanoparticles determine their uptake by the respiratory epithelium and their toxicity profile.
Furthermore, I will discuss how we can take what we have learned about the mechanisms of nanoparticle uptake and toxicity and apply this to designing safe nanoparticles for therapeutic purposes. In addition to their role as a vehicle for drug delivery, nanoparticles themselves have the potential to have both therapeutic and diagnostic benefits. Through manipulation of their elemental composition, size, shape, charge and surface modification or functionalization it may be possible to target particles to specific organs. I will focus on our recent research in to the development of targeted therapies using gold nanoparticles for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.