Responsive Nanozeolites: Smart Porosity and Surface Tailoring for Multimodal Imaging and Therapy of Cancer

Effective cancer treatment requires its early diagnosis in combination with safe drug delivery mechanisms. Up to date many therapeutics have failed due to their limited ability to reach the diseased site selectively without damaging healthy cells. Furthermore, none of the existing imaging techniques is absolutely reliable due to the differences in resolution and sensitivity. Therefore, synergistic combination of imaging modalities in one, typically nanodimensional, probe is the key-strategy  to benefit from, for example the sensitive and quantifiable PET signal and the high resolution of MRI. Nanozeolites are among the most promising candidates for realization of this concept due to their unique crystalline structure capable of stable hosting of metal-ions with diagnostic and therapeutic properties. Even though, these materials have found many applications in various technologies, their medicinal potential still requires thorough investigations. This project aimed at the design, preparation and testing of novel nanozeolitic probes that can be applied as personalized drugs for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes