A luminescent nanoparticle to advance photodynamic cancer therapy


A University of Texas at Arlington physicist working to create a luminescent nanoparticle to use in security-related radiation detection may have instead happened upon an advance in photodynamic cancer therapy.Wei Chen, professor of physics and co-director of UT Arlington’s Center for Security Advances Via Applied Nanotechnology, was testing a copper-cysteamine complex created in his lab when he discovered unexplained decreases in its luminescence, or light emitting power, over a time-lapse exposure to X-rays.

Looking further, he found that the nanoparticles, called Cu-Cy, were losing energy as they emitted singlet oxygen – a toxic byproduct that is used to damage cancer cells in photodynamic therapy.

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