Combining Optical Thermometry and Drug Delivery in Novel Hybrid Nanomaterials for Theranostics

The design and development of non-contact luminescence nanothermometers is important for many applications, including the biomedical field. This discipline has advanced tremendously in the last decade, however still showing a lot of room for improvements, especially when it comes to combining multiple functionalities in just one nano-sized material.<br/>One of our goals has been combining thermometry with drug delivery through the design of various advanced (hybrid) architectures. We aim at materials which can be used for diagnostic purposes based on very precise temperature readings and deliver the desired therapeutic on demand (pH change, near infrared laser irradiation, etc). We push our efforts further to design materials which would be decomposable after a certain period of time in the human body, eliminating the risk of nanoparticle accumulation, which is one of the current concerns of using nanoparticles in biomedical applications.<br/>In this presentation we will overview our current successes in this field as well as highlight the challenges and potential ahead.