Nanoparticles in Medicine: Stronger tools for fighting cancer
Quantum dots have the unique ability to be “tuned” to a specific wavelength for light emission. This makes them a superb candidate for marking and labeling in a biological setting since they offer a much larger number of “colors” than standard biological dyes, in addition to a much larger lifetime and a potential for higher accuracy. Quantum shells can be configured to absorb certain wavelengths of light very strongly and emit the energy as heat, which could be applied to deliver fatal temperatures to malicious cells. In my talk, I will discuss the mechanisms behind these properties which make nanoparticles so promising for combating cancer, and the wealth of research currently being done in that direction.