Nanoscale approaches to brain tumour therapy: Harnessing biology for targeted therapeutics

Speaker: Thomas Kisby, Centre for Nanotechnology in Medicine, Manchester (UK)

Glioblastoma remains one of the most challenging cancers to treat, in part because conventional approaches struggle to selectively access and target the cells responsible for recurrence. This talk will explore how nanosca le technologies can exploit the biology of brain tumours and the brain to create new thera peutic opportunities. Using graphene oxide, a nanomaterial with preferential interaction with t umour-associated immune cells, I will describe how we can use this as a locally administered  platform for both more localised chemotherapy and targeted tumour immunomodulation. 

I will then discuss a new approach that exploits the biological response to tumour resection itself: a transient postoperative window in which the blood–brain barrier becomes selectively permeable to clinically used liposomal nanomedicines. By linking the timing and biology of surgery with nanoscale drug delivery, we have developed an approach to specifically target residual disease at the site of recurrence. Together, these studies illustrate how understanding and exploiting biological processes can guide the design and application of nanotherapeutics for brain cancer.