Dr. Sadik Esener, Nano-Engineering professor at University of California, San Diego, is researching ways to target cancer at its core. Using nanotechnology, he is shrinking electronic, photonic, and mechanical devices to a dimension where they can interact with biology. Dr. Esener has developed nanomachines that can encapsulate and carry various cargos including enzymes that interact with the tumor environment and their nutrients, reside in the body for long periods of time, and when activated by ultrasound, can produce significantly higher propulsion force and move much faster than what was previously possible, to penetrate desired tissues and cells and deliver their payloads. His technologies provide the power to deliver therapeutics specifically where they are needed the most while minimizing side effects.

Dr. Esener's work does not stop at cancer research. He is simultaneously working on improving brain mapping and imaging to be able to attack Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. His sophisticated nanocapsules containing various enzymes allow for a better imaging and understanding of neurotransmitter distribution and behavior involved in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

•  Dr. Esener feels, "Using enzymes protected inside porous nanoparticles we are able to starve cancerous cells and halt their division, while at the same time targeting therapeutics to the tumor. Our technology should be applicable to a large variety of cancers."
• There is a wide range of applications for this technology. For example, ultrasound activated nanobullets can be used to navigate drugs into diseased tissue, shoot genes into cell nuclei for gene therapy, scrape deposits off arterial walls, and shoot therapeutics directly into a tumor.
• The benefits to patients are no surgery or cuts, less side effects, the need for reduced drug quantities and the possibility of incompatible therapeutic agents working together.

The increasing number of deaths by cancer every decade is alarming, making the need for this research more relevant than ever before. Dr. Esener's findings are leading the way in cancer research and taking us one step closer to winning the fight against cancer.