Research Projects

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment strategy that uses light-sensitive drugs to destroy unhealthy cells by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, using photosensitizers (PSs) can be challenging due to photo-bleaching, limited stability, and high costs. This proposal proposes using carbon quantum dots (CQDs) as PSs and pairing their diagnostic and chemotherapeutic properties for cancer treatment. The design and development of carbon quantum dots and DNA-based conjugates as FRET-photosensitizers will be used to assess the photophysical efficiency of CDs in PDT. The proposed photosensitizer should be easy to synthesize, biocompatible, biodegradable, nontoxic, light sensitive, effective ROS generation capacity, stable, short preparation time, and readily available for use. CDs are hypothesized to be an excellent biocompatible nanomaterial for this new type of photosensitizer. The proposal aims to develop a CDs-DNA-based FRET assembly for cancer theranostics, optimizing hydrothermal synthesis of red-CDs (RCDs) and green-CDs (GCDs) to form a FRET pair. This will effectively identify cancer cells from normal cells, trigger cell death, and function as a visible-light-triggered PDT agent for targeted cancer cell killing.