{"71125":{"#nid":"71125","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Using Magnetic Nanoparticles to Combat Cancer","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScientists at Georgia Tech have developed a potential new treatment against cancer that attaches magnetic nanoparticles to cancer cells, allowing them to be captured and carried out of the body. The treatment, which has been tested in the laboratory and will now be looked at in survival studies, is detailed online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We\u0027ve been able to use magnetic nanoparticles to capture free-floating cancer cells and then take them out of the body,\u0022 said John McDonald, chair of the School of Biology at Georgia Tech and chief research scientist at the Ovarian Cancer Institute. \u0022This technology may be of special importance in the treatment of ovarian cancer where the malignancy is typically spread by free-floating cancer cells released from the primary tumor into the abdominal cavity.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe idea came to the research team from the work of Ken Scarberry, a Ph.D. student in Tech\u0027s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Scarberry originally conceived of the idea as a means of extracting viruses and virally infected cells when his advisor, Chemistry professor John Zhang, had another idea. He asked if the technology could be applied to cancer. Scarberry suggested it might be an effective means of preventing cancer cells from spreading.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey began by testing the therapy on mice. After giving the cancer cells in the mice a fluorescent green tag and staining the magnetic nanoparticles red, they were able to apply a magnet and move the green cancer cells to the abdominal region.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022If the therapy is able to pass further tests that show it can prevent the cancer from spreading from the original tumor,\u0022 Scarberry said, \u0022it could be an important tool in cancer treatment.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis technology holds more promise than solely using antibodies to fight cancer because there seems to be less potential for the body to develop an immune response due to the unique peptide-targeting strategy, and the composition of the magnetic nanoparticles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022If you modify the nanoparticle and target it directly to the tumor cells using a small peptide, you are less likely to generate an undesirable immune response and more accurately target the cells of interest,\u0022 said Research Scientist Erin Dickerson.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to testing magnetic nanoparticles, the research team is collaborating with other groups at Georgia Tech to determine how peptide-directed gold nanoparticles and nanohydrogels might also be used in fighting cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScientists at Georgia Tech have developed a potential new treatment against cancer that attaches magnetic nanoparticles to cancer cells, allowing them to be captured and carried out of the body. The treatment, which has been tested in the laboratory and will now be looked at in survival studies, is detailed online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Magnetic nanoparticles capture and carry cancer cells out of the"}],"uid":"27310","created_gmt":"2008-07-16 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:15","author":"David Terraso","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2008-07-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2008-07-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"71126":{"id":"71126","type":"image","title":"Magnetic Nanoparticles attached to cancer cells","body":null,"created":"1449177348","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:15:48","changed":"1475894630","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:50"}},"media_ids":["71126"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/ovariancancerinstitute.org\/","title":"Ovarian Cancer Institute"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/faculty\/Zhang\/","title":"Z. John Zhang"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.biology.gatech.edu\/faculty\/john-mcdonald\/","title":"John McDonald"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"140","name":"Cancer Research"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"385","name":"cancer"},{"id":"2053","name":"magnetic"},{"id":"2054","name":"nanoparticle"},{"id":"387","name":"ovarian"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}