A One-Two Punch

Tayyaba Hasan and her colleagues developed nanocells that "combine light-based therapy with molecules" to stop cancer cells growth by limiting their supply of oxygen, reports MIT's Technology Review. The researchers enclosed the photosensitive drug verteporfin the solid polymer nanoparticles which were then, in turn, closed up in lipid particles that also contained bevacizumab, a drug that prevent blood vessel growth. The team then tested the nanocells in mice with pancreatic tumors. "Injecting these things as separate entities is not as effective as combining them into one construct," Hasan says.