Prof. Orit Shefi’s Article Published in Advanced Materials Technologies

An article by Prof. Orit Shefi’s research group at Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Engineering was published last month in the prestigious Advanced Materials Technologies journal. Featured on the cover, the article explores the biolistic delivery of drug-carrying particles for targeted treatment of cancerous tumors.

The study detailed in the article was led by Prof. Shefi, along with her PhD students, Eli Varon and Elina Haimov of the Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with Prof. Ester Segal of the Technion. The article discusses an innovative method for treating cancer by combining nanotechnology and electro-optics. The study was carried out over several years and yielded novel and highly significant findings. During the study, the group developed porous silicone micro-particles that carry a unique nano-complex made up of a gold nanoparticle core and the drug mTHPC. This drug becomes toxic to the cancerous cells when lit up with a laser at a tissue-penetrating wavelength. In order to inject the drug-loaded silicone particles into the tumor, the particles were biolistically shot from a focalized gene gun. Once the particles penetrated the cell area, the drug was released and activated via an external laser. The action is tumor-targeted and does not affect healthy tissue. 

Results of the study show that this innovative method successfully inhibited tumor growth. It may therefore have the potential to be developed into a safer, targeted form of cancer treatment in the future, and open up new opportunities for clinical photodynamic treatment.

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