Imagine a tiny sponge that weighs as much as a couple of sugar cubes, but contains so many itty bitty pores that its surface area equals that of a football field. They could be used to treat cancer, deliver antibiotics and more.
Imagine a tiny sponge that weighs as much as a couple of sugar cubes, but that containsWhat if scientists could engineer the sponge to serve a variety of therapeutic purposes, including storing drugs and enhancing cancer therapies?Research into potential uses for MOFs has accelerated over the past five years, chemists said. They predict the crystalline compounds could transform healthcare, energy and other industries.
Researchers are exploring how to use MOFs’ super-porosity in medicine and other fields. Cancer therapies are one area where MOFs have shown significant potential, said Wenbin Lin, a chemist at the University of Chicago. In 2018, Dr. Lin helped start a phase I clinical trial to assess whether MOFs could enhance the benefits of radiotherapy in patients with advanced-stage cancer.
“I’m very hopeful that this will provide a totally new way of treating cancer patients,” Dr. Lin said.What potential application for MOFs do you find most interesting and why? Join the conversation below. Scientists are experimenting in laboratory experiments with luminescent MOFs, said Masoud Mozafari, a biomedical engineer at the University of Toronto. While such MOFs have yet to be used for biomedical purposes, they could be designed to be attracted to certain biomarkers or cells, Dr. Mozafari said. By injecting these glowing MOFs into the body, diseases like cancer could be detected at an early stage, he added.
Tina Nenoff, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, a federally funded research laboratory that specializes in national security, said MOFs can be expensive to make, particularly when they include costly metals like zinc or gold. As technology improves and more MOFs are created, she said she expected costs to drop.
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