Ms. Hod Zaide - M.Sc. Candidate
21/06/2026
David Wang Auditorium, 3rd Floor, Dalia Maydan Bldg.
13:30
Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is minimally invasive targeted therapy for solid tumours in which low-intensity ultrasound waves with high tissue-penetration ability activate a sonosensitizer in the tumour site, resulting in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that induce cancer cell death. Our research group developed a new family of hybrid nano-sonosensitizers composed of amorphous titanium dioxide (aTiO₂) and poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO) block copolymers and demonstrated their sonodynamic efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. In this M.Sc. project, we investigated zinc oxide (ZnO) doping of these hybrid nanomaterials as a strategy to modify the band gap of aTiO2 and enhance ROS production and sonodynamic efficacy of these hybrid nanomaterials. Synthesis by a sol-gel method coupled to a nanoprecipitation step resulted in nanoparticles of controlled size. The nanoparticles were thoroughly characterized by DLS (size, size distribution and surface stability), HR-SEM (size and morphology), HR-TEM (size, morphology and chemical composition and distribution), XRD (crystallinity vs. amorphousness), UV-Vis Spectroscopy (band gap calculations), DSC and TGA (thermal properties and inorganic/organic composition). In addition, cell compatibility and sonodynamic efficacy were preliminarily assessed in a cancer cell line in vitro. Overall findings have laid the groundwork for expanding the applicability of these hybrid nano-sonosensitizers in the therapy of solid cancers.
Acknowledgements. This work was funded by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant #1295/24).