Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 1 Spring 2019 | Page 23

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They found up to 80-fold improvements in
nanoparticle penetration and distribution
using the NanoBEADS platform, compared to
passively diffusing nanoparticles.
Furthermore, Suh and Behkam found out
that NanoBEADS largely penetrate the tumor
by translocating through the space in between
cancer cells.
Behkam wanted to strengthen the Na-
noBEADS results past the in vitro stage. With
a top-flight veterinary school down the road,
she enlisted Allen, her fellow MII faculty
member, to test the NanoBEADS system in
vivo. Tests in breast cancer tumors in mice
produced results showing significant im-
provements compared to passive delivery.
The tests showed that there was about 1,000
times more salmonella cells in the tumor
compared to the liver and 10,000 times more
than the spleen.
“Most notably, the salmonella itself helped
keep the particles in the tumor up to 100-fold
better, which would suggest it would be an
effective delivery vehicle,” Allen said.
The next step in the research is to load can-
cer therapeutics into the NanoBEADS system
to test the potential enhancement in efficacy.
From bench to kennel to bedside
The collaboration highlights the diversity
of interdisciplinary research possible through
MII and Virginia Tech.
“The synergistic integration of diverse
expertise has been essential to the high-impact
discoveries that resulted from this work,”
Behkam said.
With the addition of the Virginia Tech
Carilion School of Medicine and Fralin
Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Allen
said Virginia Tech has the possibility to test
scientific research “from bench to kennel to
bedside.”
“The project could not move forward with-
out each of the three parts,” Allen said. “The
study would not have gotten into such a high
impact journal without having the chemistry,
the background of the pathogen, the idea, and
having the physiological and clinical relevance
of testing it in an actual tumor in an actual
animal model.”
Davis said all drug delivery mechanisms
have to go through animal trials, so having
an “absolutely fantastic” college of veterinary
medicine on campus took the research to a
higher level.
“One thing that attracted me to this project
was the ability to work with people like
Bahareh and Coy who work with cells and
animal studies to really translate the work,”
Davis said. “It’s hard to find that combination
of people in a lot of schools.”