Utilizing Nanotechnology to Target Brain Cancer

UCF researcher Sudipta Seal joined the fight by collaborating with Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center to provide a key component for a targeted medicine that combats the most common kind of pediatric brain tumor. Nanotechnology drug delivery is enabling scientists to target diseases more precisely using engineered nanoparticles and advanced materials. In this video, materials scientist Sudipta Seal explains how researchers in a nanoscale functional materials laboratory design rare earth oxide nanoparticles that can carry therapeutic drugs directly to specific cells in the body. These nanoparticles are engineered in water and are extremely small—often under 10 nanometers—making them highly soluble, non-toxic, and capable of reaching difficult areas such as the brain. Researcher Elayaraja Kolanthai describes how controlling nanoparticle size is critical for biomedical targeting, with particles engineered to less than five nanometers for effective delivery across biological barriers. Scientists can attach molecules such as microRNA to these nanoscale carriers, creating programmable nanovectors that function like a GPS system for medicine—guiding treatments to precise locations while protecting the drug as it travels through the body. This nanomedicine technology could improve treatment effectiveness for complex diseases and enable next-generation therapeutics across biomedical, energy, and space research applications. #Nanotechnology #DrugDelivery #Nanomedicine 🔬🧪 00:00:07 Introduction to Functional Nanomaterials 00:01:21 Particle Size and Brain Targeting 00:02:02 Nanoparticle “GPS” Concept and Modulation 00:03:09 Enhanced Drug Delivery and Therapeutics https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-research... Follow UCF's Office of Research on social! Instagram:   / researchucf   Facebook:   / researchucf   Twitter:   / researchucf   LinkedIn:   / university-of-central-florida-office-of-re...