Our studies commenced with the development of the Barcoded Nanoparticles - 100-nanometer liposomes, loaded with an anti-cancer agent and a molecular barcode that allows tracking the particle in the body. In our Nature Communications paper (Yaari. et al, 2016), we tested this approach in a Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) model and showed the barcoded nanoparticle system predicts the activity of the different drugs inside the tumor. Specifically, we were able to distinguish between active and inactive drugs.
Using targeted nanotechnologies allowed rapid analysis of drug activity (96 hours) and ensured the system's safety by using minuscule doses (~1/1000 the therapeutic dose). During the project, we explored how different cell types in the tumor microenvironment and metastasis respond to medication and correlated this to genomic data.
During the ERC-StG research program period, we demonstrated for the first time that artificial particles that mimic natural cells, coined – synthetic cells (SC), containing the molecular machinery necessary for carrying out transcription and translation, were used to synthesize anti-cancer RNA biologics inside tumors (Krinsky. et al, 2016 and Krinsky. et al, 2018) and communicate with living cells through light (optogenetic) signals. These findings were recently published in Nature Communications (Adir. et al, 2022).
We also showed the importance of gender (patient’s sex) in nanomedicine design and the effect of nanoparticles accumulation in the female reproductive system on cancer treatment and fertility (Poley. et al, 2022). Moreover, during breast cancer awareness month in Israel, we published a paper in Science Advances journal (Kaduri. et al, 2021) demonstrating that suppressing neurons in orthotopic triple-negative breast cancer tumors, inhibits pain, tumor growth, and metastatic dissemination.
The results derived from this ERC project were presented in above one hundred fifty conferences, scientific publications, general public lectures and online videos, expanding the dissemination and sparking much attention. A total of 18 papers describing the project's achievements have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals including Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, and Science Advances, allowing their findings to be widely disseminated in the scientific community.
