Moritz F. Kircher, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘14-‘16) and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, reported development of a new type of nanoparticle called “nanostars,” which accumulate in tumor cells and scatter light, making the tumors easily visible with a special camera. The nanoparticles cannot enter noncancerous cells in the body, so only the cancer cells light up. The scientists hope that this may one day enable improved identification of tumor margins during surgery, microscopic metastases, and even precancerous cells with high precision. The findings were reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
