Photothermal therapy offers one route to targeted cancer treatment.  Previous work has shown that gold nanoparticles can be targeted to and result in the destruction of cancer cells. Our work identifies the most important structural parameters for designing nanoparticles that can result in an optimized photothermal response. Because our nanopyramidal shells are created by a soft nanofabrication technique, we can achieve architectural control over specific geometric features. We discovered that particles with the thinnest shells and sharp tips produced the most heat in water.  Here we will describe an approach to correlate the in vitro photothermal response of nanoparticles to their structure using breast cancer cells. We functionalized the nanopyramids so they can target the tumor and then irradiated the particles with a near-infrared laser to ablate the cancer cells.  The results of this study will aid in designing and thereby reduce the number of particles needed in photothermal treatment.

Tailoring the <i>in vitro</i> photothermal response of nanopyramids

239th National Meeting (2010)

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Tailoring the in vitro photothermal response of nanopyramids