Photodynamic (light-activated) therapy (PDT) is an emerging powerful approach to treat illnesses. It uses special drugs which are only toxic when illuminated by visible light, but remain non-toxic without light. This approach presents tremendous opportunities for targeted therapy and dramatically reduce side-effects. So far, the main focus of research in this area was on killing cells – especially cancer cells. This project aims at an even more ambitious target – we want to translate our recent developments in anti-cancer PDT to kill bacteria. Why is it such a challenge? Because bacteria invade the cells, and one must kill bacteria, but not the host cell. |
The Team
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