Our group is interested in combining multiple treatment modalities on a single nansocale platform to enable combinatorial treatment which have higher efficacy than a single treatment approach. In this effort, we are using hybrid gold nanostructures interfaced with liposomes which are designed to absorb tissue penetrating near-infrared light and efficiently convert light to heat enabling noninvasive photothermal therapy, and simultaneously deliver the therapeutic cargo withing the liposomal core. We have combined photothermal therapies with chemotherapy, immunotherapies, and molecular therapies using small molecule cytotstatic agents.
Further, we are designing theranostic agents that enable both diagnostic and therapeutic components by attaching a label to the nanostructures. Such multifunctional nanostructures enable us to deliver the nanostructures precisely at the disease site in vivo and subsequent image-guided combinatorial therapies in a single clinical procedure. This approach can be designed to target various disease models from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases to musculoskeletal disorders.
Relevant Publications
Y-C. Ou, J. A. Webb, S. Faley, D. Shae, E. M. Talbert, S. Lin, C. C. Cutright, J. T. Wilson, L. M. Bellan, and R. Bardhan*, “Gold Nanoantenna Mediated Photothermal Drug Delivery from Thermosensitive Liposomes in Breast Cancer”, ACS Omega, 2016, 1, 234–243
J. A. Webb, W. R. Erwin, H. F. Zarick, J. Aufrecht, H. Manning, M. J. Lang, C. L. Pint, R. Bardhan*, “Geometry Dependent Plasmonic Tunability and Photothermal Characteristics of Multibranched Gold Nanoantennas”, J. Physical Chemistry C, 2014, 118, 3696-3707
W. Chen#, R. Bardhan#, M. Bartels, C. Perez-Torres, R. G. Pautler, N. J. Halas, A. Joshi, “A molecularly targeted theranostic probe for ovarian cancer” Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 2010, 9, 1028-1038 (#equal contribution)
R. Bardhan, W. Chen, C. Perez-Torres, M. Bartels, R. M. Huschka, L. Zhao, E. Morosan, R. Pautler, A. Joshi, and N. J. Halas, “Nanoshells Engineered for Targeted, Simultaneous Enhancement of Magnetic and Optical Imaging and Photothermal Therapeutic Response”Advanced Functional Materials, 2009, 19(24), 3901-3909
M-R Choi, R. Bardhan, K. J. Stanton-Maxey, S. Badve, H. Nakashatri, K. M. Stantz, N. Cao, N. J. Halas, S. E. Clare, ” Delivery of nanoparticles to brain metastases of breast cancer using a cellular Trojan horse”, Cancer Nanotechnology, 2012, 3, 47-54
A. Barhoumi, R. M. Huschka, R. Bardhan, M. W. Knight, and N. J. Halas, “Characteristics of light-controlled release of ssDNA from plasmonic nanoparticle vectors” Chemical Physics Letters, 2009, 482, 171-179
Mi-Ran Choi, Katie J. Stanton-Maxey, C. S. Levin, R. Bardhan, Demir Akin, Jennifer Sturgis, J. Paul Robinson, Rashid Bashir, Naomi J. Halas and Susan E. Clare, “A Cellular Trojan Horse for Delivery of Therapeutic Nanoparticles into Tumors “, Nano Letters, 7 , 2007 , 3759 – 3765