Light Based Chemo

[Tuckerfan]

More work on using light to activate chemo drugs in tumors.

Now chemist Harry Morrison and his research group at Purdue University have developed a group of metal-based compounds that are only active—and damaging to cells—in a specific location, such as a tumor, when light is shone on them. As the metal complexes are stable in the dark, cells away from the light source remain unharmed. They hope that this might one day offer a cancer treatment without these unpleasant side effects. “Only when the light is turned on is there going to be toxicity, and only where the light impacts the body will there be toxicity,” Morrison says.