Project

Nanomedicine; Medicine; Cancer; Intelligent Materials; Nanoscience

Lead
Dieses Projekt entwickelt, und testet neuartige, reaktive, polymerbasierte Nanomaterialien, welche zur Behandlung von Krebs geeignet sind.
Lay summary
Das Projekt basiert auf unseren Vorarbeiten, welche zu synthetischen Organellen geführt haben. Diese Nano-Objekte haben die Fähigkeit, in der Blutbahn zu zirkulieren, Krebszellen aufzuspüren und an sie zu binden. Nach "Anschalten" der Objekte mittels Licht kann die angepeilte Krebszelle gezielt vernichtet werden. Ein besonderes Augenmerk wurde darauf gerichtet, dass diese Objekte ein sehr geringes Potential für Nebenwirkungen haben.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 23.06.2015

Lead
Complexity of life and of disease processes is clearly discernible even in the nanoscale. Can these insights be used to inspire a new class of novel, synthetic nano-size objects with complex functionality (synthetic organelles) useful for the therapy of severe diseases like cancer?
Lay summary
Background The nanosciences have shown that fundamental biological events are based on processes in the nanoscale, in health as well as in disease. In comparison to the complex, functional natural nano-objects of the living cell, today’s technical nanoparticles are very simple in structure and function. Aim The goal of this project is, therefore, to design and synthesize artificial nanosize objects of increasing complexity and functionality suited as novel medical applications (therapies for cancer), and to test such synthetic organelles in cell culture and cancer models in the intact organism. Despite their small size (nanometer scale), first prototypes of such synthetic organelles are already showing the capability to deploy switchable functionality of biological relevance. To achieve the goals of the project, polymer chemistry, biochemistry, analytic and biomedical methods are used in concert. Significance Scientifically, the design and the production of functional and reversibly activatable synthetic nanoscale objects is a challenge: how much complexity can be implemented at such a small scale? Can the expected advantages of such objects, namely selectivity for the diseased organs, effectiveness enhancement together with side effect reduction, and switchability, be confirmed experimentally? What is the behaviour of such objects in the intact organism? Application The primary goal of the project is the development of intelligent nanoscale organelles for cancer therapy. Beyond this application, there exists the potential for nanoscale objects with complex, reversible functionality to become a future platform technology. Therefore, it is expected to gain, beyond the medical application, important insights into the potential, the challenges, necessary synthesis methods and optimal applications of such complex nanosystems.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 23.06.2015

Active participation

Self-organised

Communication	Title	Media	Place	Year

Start-ups

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

The goals of the project are to develop, and to explore the medical utility of a novel class of intelligent synthetic nanoscale materials built from polymers, that are able to react upon external stimuli, to trigger or perform biochemical reactions, and to perform this functionality on the level of a target cell and within the organism and to assess the potential of such materials in cancer in cell culture and small animal models.By combining medical synthesis, physical characterisation, and biomedical evaluation, we have created a number of novel intelligent materials that proved to be highly promizing for future cancer therapies: They are non-toxic, are able to target cancer tissues in several human cancer models selectively, and can be "switched on" at the target to exert strong therapeutic effects while sparing healthy cells and tissues.