The Polytechnique discovery consists of precisely targeting cancerous cells without exposing the healthy surrounding tissue to the toxic effects of the medication being administered -- once an oncologist's dream and now en route to becoming a medical reality because of the work of Professor Martel's team.

This team is responsible for a spectacular new breakthrough in the field of nanomedicine. Using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, it successfully guided microcarriers loaded with a dose of the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin through the bloodstream of a living rabbit, right up to a targeted area in the liver, where the drug was gradually and successfully administered.

This is a medical first that will eventually help improve chemoembolization, a current treatment for liver cancer.

Bravo to Pierre Pouponneau for his PhD project!
The microcarriers used for the experiment were developed by Pierre Pouponneau, a PhD candidate under the joint direction of Professors Jean-Christophe Leroux and Martel. These drug-delivery agents, called therapeutic magnetic microcarriers (TMMCs), are biodegradable polymer particles measuring 50 micrometers in diameter -- just under the breadth of a hair -- that encapsulate a dose of a therapeutic agent along with magnetic nanoparticles. Acting as minuscule magnets, the nanoparticles are what allow the MRI machine to guide the microcarriers through the blood vessels to a targeted organ.

Our heartiest congratulations to Professor Martel and his team!

To read the Québec Science story on its top 10 discoveries of the year 2011, click here.