FPU2023-Functionalization of nanoparticles for targeted cancer diagnosis and therapy

Cancer is one of the most relevant diseases worldwide because of its incidence, prevalence and mortality. The application of nanotechnology for the rational design of biomaterials is providing alternative solutions to classical treatments, thus expanding the toolbox available for biomedical imaging and therapy. The project focuses on nanoparticles for diagnosis and localized therapy of cancer. The PhD researcher will work on the synthesis and surface functionalization of the nanoparticles in order to selectively target cancer cells. The PhD Thesis will be co-supervised by the groups of NanoCIM (ICMAB, for the synthesis of the nanoparticles; https://www.icmab.es/ssc/nanocim) and CatSyNanoMat (UAB, for the functionalization with targeting ligands; https://webs.uab.cat/catsynanomat/). The researcher will be in charge of the synthesis and functionalization of nanoparticles. The researcher will become familiar with a wide variety of characterization techniques including for instance NMR, IR, electron microscopy (TEM, SEM), elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The prepared nanoparticles will then be evaluated in in-vitro and in-vivo studies by PhD and postdoctoral researchers of the group, to assess their imaging and therapeutic response. The PhD researcher will join a multidisciplinary team with chemists, nanotechnologists, biologists, engineers and medical doctors. The work will be performed in close collaboration with Hospital Universitari Vall d´Hebro