Scientists at Swansea University have developed a statistical framework that tracks the uptake of nanoparticles by living cells using florescent nanoparticles, resulting in an accurate prediction of particle dosages which could be used in applications such as targeted nanodrug delivery.
The breakthrough technology, conducted within the Centre for Nanohealth (CNH) at Swansea University, and funded by the Engineering and Physical Science research council (EPSRC) for £1 million is the first in-depth statistical analysis of nanoparticle uptake into living cells.
The research group’s paper this month featured on Nature Nanotechnology’s website in a report entitled “Statistical analysis of nanoparticle dosing in a dynamic cellular system”.
Nanoparticles have immense potential in medicine due to their ability to enter living cells; this has led to the burgeoning field of Nanomedicine in which nanoparticles are used to diagnose and treat disease at the cellular level.
Professor Huw Summers, Head of the Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Centre (MNC) at Swansea University is leading the research. He said: “Nanoparticles are artificial molecules and so sit within the analytical framework of statistical thermodynamics as described by probability functions.
“In addressing the critical issue of bias in the delivery and dispersion of nanoparticles, we have developed a statistical mechanics framework for relating the microscale, singlecell stochasticity to macroscopic, whole-population dynamics.
“This analytical framework provides a basis for developing future models that can predict the dosages for treatment and the extent of toxicity in susceptible subpopulations of cells.
“Although results have shown that cellular targeting of nanoparticles is inherently imprecise due to the randomness of nature at the molecular scale, our development of a statistical framework offers a way to predict nanoparticle dosage for therapy and for the study of nanotoxins.
“Ultimately the vision is to target individual diseased cells and to selectively deliver nanoparticles loaded with drugs to them. Thus in treating cancer for example, tumour cells would be recognised and destroyed cell by cell in a precision treatment of the ultimate specificity.”
For further information about the work being conducted in the Centre for Nanohealth within the School of Engineering at Swansea University, visit: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/NanoHealth/
