“Graphene is transparent, mechanically very strong, resistant, flexible and electrically conductive,” said Dr Jolly, research strategy coordinator. “The advantage is that all those properties are combined together in the same material which was previously unseen.
“Graphene is also a 2D material. A lot of spherical nanoparticles, such as liposomes, are currently used in medicine. Using a nanoparticle with a different shape and size implies different properties that could deliver better or be used differently.”
In this project, graphene will be exploited for the design and engineering of innovative solutions for specific unmet clinical needs, in areas such as wound care and management which is relevant to diabetes; neural rehabilitation by electrical stimulation for cases of dementia; cell therapeutics for ophthalmological and cardiovascular disease; and immunotherapeutics in cases of cancer.
“So studies have stressed that graphene goes mainly to the liver or the kidneys so we will concentrate on trying to develop graphene as drug delivery system to treat tumours in those areas. Graphene is versatile so you could use all the chemistry in the world to functionalise graphene which is a big advantage and its shape means you can attach many more molecules to its surface, both of which could improve drug delivery,” Dr Jolly added.
“There’s controversy about whether graphene has anti-microbial properties because there have been contradictory results. It seems it does under certain alignments and preparations, which could make it a potential application for bandages.”
The team will also try using graphene to create flexible electronics for medical devices such as electrodes that are implanted in the brain, for diseases including Parkinson’s. Graphene is said to be an interesting material because of its electrical conductivity and could help reduce the invasiveness of those electrodes.
When stimulated, Graphene’s optical property could be used as a tag in order to label cells to see where they go in the body. This could help the surgeon identify the tumour’s location for assisted image-guided surgery.
“If you imagine graphene as a sheet of paper, the edge of the particle is pointy and sharp. Compared to other nanoparticles, they can penetrate the cell just by crossing the membrane due to this sharp edge. We call it the needle effect,” explained Dr Jolly.
“It could be an inconvenience because, if you can’t control graphene going into cells, it might be toxic. It is an issue we will have to address. The problem with chemistry at the moment is that it goes everywhere in the body; it’s a systemic administration so healthy tissue and organs can be damaged.”
According to Dr Jolly, they will also research other crystals that have been isolated in a 2D form, such as boron nitride and molybdenum disulphide, with completely different properties to graphene but that could potentially be used in medicine as well.
The grant was one of four major research awards, totalling £17.7m, that will develop technologies to address the health issues of an aging UK population.
The other three research programmes will be led by Imperial College London, the University of Leeds, and University of Glasgow. Knowledge from each programme will be pooled and there will be an external advisory board composed of regulatory agencies, clinics, end users and key stake holders to help accelerate the routes to clinical trial and commercialisation.
