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Xenia Kachur, a graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Interdisciplinary Program at the UA, is working on a project to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer tissues without harming healthy body cells. (Photo: Beatriz Verdugo)

Invention Could Improve Cancer Drug Delivery, Lessen Harmful Effects of Chemotherapy

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Invention Could Improve Cancer Drug Delivery, Lessen Harmful Effects of Chemotherapy

Dec. 20, 2010
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An invention by UA researchers may provide a way to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer tissues in controlled doses without harming healthy body cell

University of Arizona researchers may have found a way to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer tissues in controlled doses without harming healthy body cells.

If successful, the invention of gold-coated liposomes could make chemotherapy more effective to destroy cancer cells and alleviate the harmful side effects that can result from the treatment.

The invention by Marek Romanowski, an associate professor of biomedical engineering in the UA College of Engineering and a member of the BIO5 Institute and the Arizona Cancer Center, and his lab team doesn't have a silver lining. Better: It has a lining of gold. The secret to non-invasively controlling the release of chemotherapeutic drugs lies in nano-scale capsules made of lipids and coated with a fine layer of gold.