A few years ago, Yosry Attia, who had long been looking for new uses for an old technology, mentioned his latest work to his neighbor, Thomas Hubbell, and the hope that it could hold the key to better cancer treatments. Attia was investigating the use of aerogel -- a low-density porous solid material that some call "frozen smoke" -- and its ability to improve the targeting of cancer cells. Hubbell encouraged his friend to continue his pursuit, then joined him.
Two years later, their company, Delaware-based BioAerogel, is poised to change cancer treatment forever.
"The problem is, in order to get chemotherapy drugs to cancer cells, you have to immerse the body in the drugs," explains Hubbell. "That means you have to use much bigger doses than will ever reach actual cancer cells, and more healthy cells will be damaged."
Through the use of aerogel, a gel in which the liquid component has been replaced by gas, the pair have found a way to bind cancer cell-targeting proteins with chemotherapy drugs. When injected into a patient intravenously, the proteins within their gel attach themselves to the cancer cells at the molecular level, then deliver cancer-killing drugs. Better targeting means smaller doses of chemotherapy drugs, less damage to healthy cells and fewer side-effects.
Because each cancer has a special structure, aerogels with different properties must be designed for each kind of cancer. Attia and Hubbell started by tackling lung cancer cells, with lab results already showing great promise. Earlier this year, the duo got a TechColumbus start-up grant to continue their work while looking for new investors.
"Right now, we're working on perfecting the science and process, and then we have to go through the FDA approval process," says Hubbell.
In the meantime, they'll start designing treatments for other cancers and investigating whether their aerogel delivery platform could be used to treat other diseases.
Source: Thomas Hubble, BioAerogel
Writer: Dave Malaska