Mines Professor Recognized by National Cancer Institute for Research on Tools Targeting Cancer Cells

Congzhou Wang, South Dakota Mines associate professor in the Department of Nanoscience and Biomedical Engineering and recipient of South Dakota Mines’ 2024 Outstanding Researcher Award, is one of only nine investigators highlighted by the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Biology (DCB).

The DCB supports cancer researchers who are expanding knowledge of the disease and paving the way for critical breakthroughs in cancer prevention and treatment.

Wang’s research focuses on utilizing black phosphorus nanosheets and near-infrared lasers to reverse breast cancer progression, aiming to make conventional chemotherapy both safer and more effective.

Wang’s team, in collaboration with Steve Smith, Ph.D., Mines professor and head of the Department of Nanoscience & Biomedical Engineering, is developing black phosphorus nanosheets that are biocompatible and biodegradable, posing no harm to normal cells.

They manufacture ultra-thin nanosheets and then modify them with an antibody that specifically targets receptors on chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer cells. Once absorbed by the cancer cells, a near-infrared laser is applied, penetrating the tissue and gently heating the nanosheets.

This modest heat increase halts the spread of advanced, chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells, reverting them to less aggressive, earlier stages and enhancing their responsiveness to traditional chemotherapy, explains Wang.  These results were recently published in two high-impact journal articles, one in “ACS Nano” and another in “Nano Letters.”

Wang’s cancer research is funded by a Research Enhancement Award (R15) received in 2022 from the National Cancer Institute (NIH), designed to support research projects at educational institutions that have not previously received substantial NIH funding.

Part of the R15 grant focuses specifically on involving undergraduate students in the future cancer research. “We are using this research opportunity to recruit new biomedical engineering undergraduate students who are interested in joining the fight against cancer and excited to be a part these ground-breaking discoveries,” said Wang.