Using carbon nanotubes for photothermal treatment of cancer

CNTs functionalized with the protein annexin V (AV) can be used to kill cancer cells via photothermal therapy. Such CNTs bind specifically to anionic phospholipids on the surface of the cancer cells. Subsequential heating of these CNTs with near infrared radiation or radio frequency fields can damage the metastatic cancer cells. We are study heat transfer from CNTs to the cell, using energy conservative Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPDe) from Large-Scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator (LAMMPS). Coarse-grained CNTs (a Cylinder consisting of beads) are modelled in a water bead medium, to simulate heat transfer from CNT to the medium. Heat transfer from the CNTs to the protein, medium and the membrane will be studied in the same manner. Our goal is to optimize the functionalized CNT for this application.