Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology and refers to highly specific medical intervention at the nanoscale for diagnosing, curing or preventing diseases. Nanomedicine involves the creation and application of nanobiomaterials and devices at the level of molecules.

 

Our current research focuses on multi-disciplinary research to build new systems for various nanobiomedical applications ranging from the medical use of nanoplatform-based diagnostic agents, to therapeutic agents, and even possible future applications of theranostics (diagnosis + therapy). By integration of state-of-the-art molecular imaging and nanomedicine with peptide/protein chemistry, polymer/ inorganic chemistry, cell/molecular biology as well as clinical medicine; we are developing future nanoplatforms which enable i) early detection of diseases, ii) monitoring therapeutic response, and iii) targeted delivery of therapeutic agents. Its improved practical potency highlights its potential as new personalized strategies to help improve patient management and outcomes in the near future.  

 

Recent interdisciplinary research that couples the molecular imaging science with nanotechnology has generated novel NanoProbes that exhibit high sensitivity and low background noise in both in vitro and in vivo applications. We are developing various highly-sensitive NanoProbes which can be utilized for biomarker detection (i.e. proteases) and early diagnosis and monitoring of diseases including cancer and inflammatory diseases.

 

The purpose of this research is to develop a new imaging and therapeutic system based on the nano-hybrid biomolecules. We are developing various site-specifically engineered peptides, affibodies, reporter/therapeutic proteins and self-assembled proteins by sophisticated bioconjugation methods to maximize both the diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy.

 

Theranostic agents developed based on ‘whole in one approach’ will show great promise in the emerging field of personalized medicine, because they allow detection as well as monitoring of an individual patient’s cancer at an early-stage, and delivering anticancer agents over an extended period for enhanced therapeutic efficacy. With the help of nanoplatform technology, we’ll introduce a novel concept for creating cancer theranostic systems. We are developing sophisticated multifunctional theranostic agents that not only carry and deliver gene therapeutics and chemotherapeutics but also provide real-time imaging of therapy response in vivo. If successful, the proof-of-concept will allow for widespread preclinical and clinical applications of theranostics in cancer, cardiovascular and immune diseases.