[CCoE Notice] Seminar Announcement * October 14, 2011 * Jarek Wosik * TcSUH, University of Houston

[Lewis, Lindsay R]

 ***** Seminar *****
Center for Integrated Bio and Nano Systems
Houston Chapter of IEEE Nanotechnology Council and Houston Chapter of IEEE Magnetics Society
Friday, October 14, 2011
12:30 p.m. (Refreshments served at noon)
Room: W122 Building D3

Rf electromagnetic fields induced heating of nanoparticles for cancer treatment

Jarek Wosik

Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX

The influence of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on biological tissue is gaining increasing recognition in medical diagnostics as well as therapeutics. As examples we point to emerging radio-frequency (rf) hyperthermia (HPT) and rf ablation (RFA) procedures, for which cell temperatures are increased to 41-46 °C (for HPT) and above 56 °C (for RFA). In general, to heat a tumor using energy delivered by EMF is not difficult; however, to do so in a selective manner by heating only the malignant structure not the benign tissue while controlling tumor temperature is not a simple task. Rf induced heating procedures can become non-invasive if combined with nanoparticles (NP) for heating enhancement, and can also be cell-selective if proper functionalization is developed. Applications of nanoparticles for such tasks have already been proposed and studied for many years; however, they were first regarded as a vision rather than a realistic option for cancer treatment. Significant recent progress in biomedicine and nanotechnology has accelerated development of this field, and it's potential versatility is leading to the emergence of multi-modal applications, i.e., combination of two or more biochemical and physical features in the same hybrid design of NP based structures. In this talk we will discuss basic mechanisms of interactions between EMF and NP/tissue using physics and engineering approaches. Results of measurements of the rf heating efficiency of colloidal suspensions with both magnetic and nonmagnetic NP will be shown. It was found that for nonmagnetic NP the physics of the heating mechanism is not clear and needs to be elucidated. We have constructed an apparatus for rf heating that employs both rf electric and magnetic fields in the MHz frequency range. The heating efficiency of nonmagnetic NP, including the observed inverse dependence of heating efficiency on the size of metallic NPs, will be explained using a double layer (DL) based loss model. Optimization of the operating frequency for effective NP heating enhancement, and suspension/tissue frequency dependent rf losses will be also addressed. Investigation of these losses will enable more effcient cancer therapy due to better understanding of the interaction of EMF with NP in the in-vivo environment.

Bio of Prof. Wosik:

Jarek Wosik is a Research Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston, and Director of The High Frequency Bioengineering Laboratory at the Texas Center for Superconductivity. He is an expert in high frequency characterization of both solid state and biological samples. He has achieved international recognition for research on fundamental properties and applications of magnetic, dielectric, and superconducting materials at microwave and radio frequencies. His current activities in this area focus on characterization of nanoparticles for implementation in thermal cancer treatment, and on characterization of carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanoparticles for applications as MRI contrast agents. Jarek Wosik's extensive experience in designing high frequency resonators has led to pioneering work on cryogenic/superconducting MRI coils and coil arrays of superior sensitivity. He holds 6 US patents and applications in the area of high frequency bioengineering.

Contact Prof. Dmitri Litvinov (litvinov at uh.edu<mailto:litvinov at uh.edu>) if you would like to arrange for a time to meet with Dr. Wosik.





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