We had a chance to collaborate on a joint project titled, “Anti-EPCAM Gold Nanorods and Femtosecond Laser Pulses for Targeted Treatment of Retinoblastoma” with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Oncology in University of Alberta.Retinoblastoma is a cancerous disease that affects the retina, and primarily affects young children.

This work presents a new technique to treat retinoblastoma cancer that ties physics, biology and computational modellingusing gold nanorods and femtosecond laser pulses.  Femtosecond laser pulses are delivered through the various components of the eye, and absorbed by the gold nanorods. Once the gold nanorods absorb the laser light pulse, they heat up and explode inside the cancer cells, leading to targeted destruction of retinoblastoma cells. The report on this project was accepted as is in the Advanced Therapeutics Journal  and has been chosen to appear on cover.