Multifunctional nanocomposites as dual cancer diagnostic and therapeutic tools

My work aims to develop unique materials which are capable of functioning as all-in-one medical diagnostic and therapeutic devices – the emerging field of ‘theranostics’. In this project, nanoscale particles are being developed which provide ultra-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast. Uniquely, they are designed to also feature a responsive polymer coating providing an ‘on/off’ MRI switch triggered by the presence of disease biomarkers, which simultaneously delivers a dose of therapeutic if disease is present. This unique combination of advanced materials and polymer chemistry has the potential to revolutionise the medical sector – enabling fast, specific and non-invasive means of diagnostics with the added capability of direct, site-specific drug delivery.

To date, the project has involved the preparation of various types of nanoparticles immobilised with different polymeric materials and investigations of their behaviour in response to biomarkers. This has allowed assessment of their capability of responding in a measureable way. This part of the work has resulted in two peer-reviewed publications, detailed below. The principal is now being mapped to MRI contrast agent particles, which are currently being prepared with the optimised polymeric sensing system immobilised on their surfaces. Ongoing work will assess their MRI contrast ‘switching’ capability – this work is approaching publication stage and has been invited to form part of a Chemical Communications “Special Issue”, to be published in 2015. MRI contrast-enhancing particles have also been the topic of two oral presentations in recent months and have received excellent feedback and attention, leading to two new collaborations in this area, providing excellent scope towards the therapeutic aspect of this project, which is gaining momentum.

Peer-reviewed publications (MLS bursary acknowledged for funding support):

• D.J. Phillips, G-L. Davies, M.I. Gibson, “Siderophore-Inspired
  Nanoparticle-based Biosensor for the Selective Detection of Fe3+”, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2014, DOI:10.1039/C4TB01501K. Impact Factor pending. “Top 20 most downloaded article” November 2014.

Oral presentations:

• D.J. Phillips, I.Prokes, G-L. Davies, M.I. Gibson,
  “Isothermally-responsive Polymers Triggered by Selective Binding of Fe3+ to Siderophoric Catechol End-groups”, ACS Macro Letters, 2014, 3, 1225-1229. Impact Factor 5.242. “Top 15 most downloaded article” November 2014.
• M.I. Gibson, D.J. Phillips, G.-L. Davies, “Water Gated Switchable
  Particulate MRI Contrast Agents”, Chemical Communications, 2015, In Preparation. Impact Factor 6.718. Emerging Investigator Issue.
• Recent Appointees in Materials Science Meeting, University of
  Bath, September 2014.
• RSC Chemistry Careers Event, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland,
  November 2014.

The MLS research bursary has enabled me to proceed with the chemical synthesis of a range of different particles and products to test hypotheses and optimise systems and will continue to be used to fund the synthetic side of this research as well as fund access to a clinical MRI scanner to test MRI contrast agents in medically-relevant machine, ensuring that the project remains focussed on its potential clinical outcomes and impact. Without this funding, my research would not have been able to proceed with such pace and success.

Dr Gemma-Louise Davies, IAS Global Research Fellow
Institute of Advanced Study and Department of Chemistry,
University of Warwick