Seminar by Dr. Yavuz Nuri Ertaş

Speaker: Dr. Yavuz Nuri Ertaş, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Erciyes University
Title: Cancer Treatment using Nanoparticles Enhanced Radiotherapy, and 3D-Printed Scaffolds for Local Tumor Treatment via Synergistic Photothermal, Photodynamic and Chemodynamic Therapy
Date: Tuesday – November 22, 2022
Time: 11:30
Place: SNA B153

Abstract:
This talk will focus on two different nanoparticle applications in cancer treatment. 1) Radiotherapy is one of the most common cancer treatment methods in the clinical which uses high-energy X-rays to deliver irradiation doses for cancer treatment. However, the therapeutic use of radiotherapy is constrained by its low radiosensitivity, inaccurate tumor localization and poor differentiation between lesions, and the adverse effects of irradiation in healthy tissues. Therefore, it is essential to find strategies to increase radiosensitivity of tumors while simultaneously decreasing their systemic adverse effects. The integration of nanotechnology and radiotherapy offers enhanced treatment outcomes. 2) Incorporation of infrared light sensitive nanoparticles into 3-D printed implantable scaffolds offer new generation cancer treatment ways through the utilization of synergistic effects such as photothermal, photodynamic and chemodynamic therapy. The combination of multiple effects in a single platform is of value and this talk will present a simple but efficient way of achieving such goal.

Bio:
Yavuz Nuri Ertas received the B.S. degree in biomedical engineering from Baskent University and the M.S. degree in materials science and nanotechnology from Bilkent University. He later moved to USA for the doctoral studies and received the Ph.D. degree in biomedical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in 2017. From 2018 to 2020, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the department of chemistry at the UCLA. Since 2020, he has been an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department, Erciyes University, Turkey, and directing an interdisciplinary Laboratory (www.ertaslab.com) at Erciyes University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (ERNAM). During the doctoral studies, he worked towards producing bare gadolinium nanoparticles. Until then, it was not possible to produce such particles using standard chemical methods. He developed a synthetic nanofabrication method to produce highly magnetic and oxide-free gadolinium nanocrystals which are used as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. His current research interests include nanoparticle synthesis and medical applications, micro-nano fabrication, biomaterials and 3D-bioprinting. Dr. Ertas was a recipient of the International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers Program (TUBITAK 2232) in 2020.