"Optical Nano-Manipulations of Malignant Cells"
Dr. Dvir Yelin Department of
Biomedical Engineering, Technion
Owing to their unique optical properties, gold nanoparticles find a
wide range of applications in biomedicine, including nonlinear
microscopy, single molecule sensing, DNA sequencing and targeted
therapy. Illuminated by femtosecond pulses of high peak intensities
at their plasmonic resonance, gold nanoparticles can strongly
influence their close environment by the induction of various
thermal, acoustic and ionization processes. This talk will present
recent results in our attempt to control the fate of malignant
cells using highly localized manipulations on a nanometric scale. We
show that cells which were specifically targeted by gold
nanoparticles and illuminated by only a few pulses, undergo either
necrosis or apoptosis in a highly controlled manner. We also find
that at very specific exposure levels, effective fusion between
neighboring cells can be induced, a process which could be useful
for a range of applications in cancer therapy and drug production.
Host:
Prof. Ron Lifshitz, x5145
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