Our Funds at Work

Nanoparticle assisted skin laser therapy.

Haishan Zeng, MD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Nanoparticles are a new category of material with many promising applications in medicine. Due to their extremely small size (< 100 nm) and the resultant convenient tunable optical properties, they can be tailored to acquire features that are desirable for accurately targeted therapy. In this project, we will explore the feasibility of using nanoparticles to target hair follicles in skin tissue for improving laser hair removal. Current laser hair removal therapy is based on melanin absorption of intense laser pulses and therefore, does not work for light colored hairs where melanin was depleted. We will study the penetration and potential accumulation of native nanoparticles along the hair follicles on animal models. Special ligands can also be attached to the nanoparticles to target specific structures in the hair root. Once we successfully target hair follicles by nanoparticles, pulsed laser illumination will be applied to achieve the removal of not only dark hairs but also light colored hairs.

(C2006)