Monthly Archives: September 2021

New and promising nanocarriers in cancer therapy

Together with Hanne R Hagland and Abdelnour Alhourani at the University of Stavanger, we have investigated if graphene nanosheets can be used to transport small anti-cancer drugs in the blood. Graphene nanosheets have unique properties that are not found in other nanomaterials, such as a very high surface area for absorption of drugs. We found that graphene released the drugs at low pH, which are perfect for cancer drugs, since most tumours have lower pH than the rest of the body. We also demonstrated that pristine graphene is superor to graphene oxide, but that PEGylation is needed to ensure that the nanosheets disperse nicely in aqueous media. The work was just accepted for publication in ACS Omega.