Pancreatic cancer has one of the worst prognoses and the fewest effective therapeutic options of all malignancies. We are designing an alternative treatment that implements nanotechnology to create a multi-purpose nanovehicle that can target, image, and with high specificity destroy pancreatic cancer cells. Our gold-coated iron oxide nanovehicle can be imaged using magnetic resonance, and is used as a platform for attaching antibodies and therapeutic agents. Our research seeks to optimize the synthesis of the iron oxide core and gold shell by adjusting parameters: the amount of coupling agent, which is 3-aminopropyl-trimethoxy-silane and promotes attachment of gold, and 2 nm gold nanoparticles, which encourages the growth of the gold shell. We have found that when more APTMS is used and exposures to 2 nm gold nanoparticles are repeated, a thinner gold shell is formed, as was shown by results from TEM, UV-Vis, and DLS characterization.

Optimizing a nanovehicle for pancreatic cancer treatment

245th National Meeting (2013)

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