Principal Investigator Sangeeta Bhatia
Co-investigators Robert Langer , K Wittrup , Darrell Irvine , Phillip Sharp , Angela Belcher , Daniel Anderson , Paula Hammond , Michael Cima
Project Website http://ki.mit.edu/research/nanotechnology
Most cancer drugs are blunt instruments. We are working at the molecular level to engineer new therapeutic agents that can home in on cancer cells and selectively destroy them. Designing these nanoscale “smart bombs” requires multiple rapidly advancing technologies and the expertise to combine them. Critical components of therapeutic nanoparticles include: (1) a targeting mechanism such as an antibody or aptamer that identifies cancer cells by the molecules they express; (2) a destructive mechanism such as a toxin, antibody or RNA interference (RNAi) molecule that disables cancer cells; and (3) molecular packaging such as a liposome or other material that allows the therapeutic agent to traverse the body efficiently.