A new development in science technology has potential to change medicine forever.

Dr. Victor Shang-Yi Lin, associate professor of chemistry, and his research group are developing a nanotechnology platform that could have a profound effect on disciplines ranging from cancer treatment to genetic research.

Lin’s work involves materials called mesoporous silica nanospheres. These structures, with a particle diameter less then one-hundredth that of a strand of human hair, contain numerous duct-like channels. The channels present a unique opportunity for nanoscopic chemical storage and delivery, whether the payload is anti-tumor drugs, nutrients or custom genetic material.

“Our ultimate goal is to use these structures like a Trojan horse,” Lin said. “The idea is that we can hide different drugs or imaging agents inside.”

When the passenger chemicals are securely contained in the nanostructure, it becomes much easier to deliver them in a very precise manner to plant or animal cells.

The delivery of chemotherapy drugs to the tumor sites of cancer patients is one example of how it can benefit doctors and patients.

“The problem with anti-tumor drugs is that they do not only kill tumor cells,” Lin said.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy have long experienced debilitating and dangerous side effects when the healthy cells of their body are attacked by anti-tumor drugs, but Lin has found that porous nanostructures offer a new way to approach the problem.

“One way to circumvent the problem is to have a carrier that will actually deliver this drug selectively to the tumor site without hurting the normal cells . that’s the holy grail,” Lin said.

For the nanospheres to function effectively as carriers, they must be capable of entering a cell without being destroyed. Fortunately, investigation of this question has provided promising results.

“Our particles turn out to be very biocompatible,” Lin said.

The main focus of Lin’s current research is the development of mechanisms that hold the drugs inside the nanostructures and prevent them from being released where they may be unwanted or harmful.

“For this we put different [chemical] groups on the end. We can use these groups as gatekeepers,” Lin said.

He is investigating several ways in which these chemical gates can be controlled. One recent success has been the use of magnetically charged chemicals. Lin and his graduate assistants Supratim Giri and Brian Trewyn, graduate students in chemistry, have demonstrated that an external magnet can be used to direct the nanospheres and deliver the drug with great accuracy.

“The whole structure is attracted to a magnet, and when a magnet comes near the caps, the gates open,” Lin said.

The research group is now focusing on a new method in which the nanospheres release drugs in tumor cells only, without the need for external control.

“When the particles go inside the cells, the antioxidants that exist in cancer cells can cleave a chemical bond, letting the drugs come out,” Giri said.

Chemotherapy is only one of several areas Lin is investigating.

The chemical gates of these nanospheres could also be designed to open only in the presence of specific chemicals.

Biologists could take advantage of this technology to investigate the levels of different chemicals inside of living cells without damaging them.

Both the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy are supporting the project. Lin’s research could enable advances in the creation of crop varieties genetically modified to serve as alternative energy sources, a possibility being explored by other researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory.

“We are actually building a toolbox that can have many uses,” Lin said.

“The applications are not just for biotech; one can even imagine you could load insect repellent into your clothes and control the release of the repellent.

“You could be outside for weeks without worrying about mosquitoes.”

Lin’s technology may enable imaginative and innovative scientists for decades to come.

“Nanotechnology is the future,” Trewyn said.