Postdoctoral position : Synthesis of light-sensitive polymers for cancer chemotherapy – ICS, Strasbourg (21/07/2024)

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Many treatments involve surgery to remove the tumor and the surrounding tissues followed by chemotherapy to kill residual cancer cells and thus reduce cancer recurrence. However, solutions to release the anti-cancer drug only at tumor tissues to lower side effects remains a key challenge.

The project aims at developing light-sensitive polymers for cancer chemotherapy. Near infrared light was chosen due to its ability to penetrate deeply into biological tissues and to trigger simultaneously multiple actions to kill cancer cells (hyperthermia, release of an encapsulated anti-cancer agent, and therapeutic action of the polymer). The structure of of the polymer will be tuned to fulfill the requirements of drug delivery systems such as stealthiness and accumulation at tumor sites, while considering an alternative to poly(ethylene glycol) to overcome its drawbacks. The work of the postdoctoral researcher will focus on the synthesis of a library of polymers of controlled topology, functionality, and composition to combine photothermal and photoactivated chemotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Their properties such as thermoresponsive behavior and light responsiveness will be investigated by the postdoctoral researcher, while their ability to kill cancer cells will be evaluated in vitro in collaboration with the laboratory biomaterials and bioengineering (UMR_S 1121) in Strasbourg.

Publié le 21/07/2024