Media Update
June 2013
Bioremediation and cancer: Noble causes
Trent University researcher looks at silver nano-particles to help fight cancer tumours
Adam Noble a Peterborough, Ontario researcher at Trent University, was hard at work in the field, trying
to figure out how to recover silver nano-particles from sewage treatment plants. Not only were the silver
nano-particles causing toxicity throughout the ecosystem, but they are also expensive.
Noble’s research determined that nanosilver could be extracted from wastewater using Euglena, a type of
single-celled organism that he grew and cultivated in his parents' basement sauna. He developed a
prototype that he says can successfully filter the valuable material out of waste water and reclaim it for
resale.
“I found that an algae called Euglena could be tricked into ‘taking up’ the silver,” he said. “Then the algae
could be taken out of the system and destroyed, allowing the silver nano-particles to be recovered. In our
tests we recovered $4.2 million worth of silver nano-particles. Now we’re doing a market assessment to
see if the process is feasible on a large scale.”
During his bioremediation research, Noble noticed that silver nano-particles that collected in the gills of
lake trout appeared to cause cancer tumours. He started thinking about the relationship between the two,
and shifted his focus to see if he could create silver nano-particles that would kill cancer tumours rather
than cause them.
“These particles are not specific in their toxicity, which is why they are bad for the environment,” he said.
“But by adjusting their shape, size and other factors, they can become much more targeted. I was able to
design nano-particles that would only be uptaken by cancer cells. You could inject them into the blood
and they accumulate in the tumours.”
In the lab, he’s been able to do exactly that with cells of lung, cervical, skin and other forms of cancer.
One of the key factors is a “capping agent” – essentially a coating on the particles that keeps them from
killing anything until the capping agent breaks down. And, it turns out that tumour cells have a Death-Starlike vulnerability.
“Tumours have leaky vasculature systems,” he said. “That provides an entry point for the nano-particles.
The cell ingests the particle, the capping agent breaks down, and releases the ions that kill the tumours.”
Noble is still a long way even from conducting clinical tests in human beings. But his story is already
exemplary of the kind of serendipitous journey that so often takes university researchers in such
unexpected directions.
LEARN MORE

Community Action Grant Awarded to a Promising Young Nanoparticle Researcher at Trent
For further information please contact:
Patricia Pytel
International Public Relations
Patricia.Pytel@ontario.ca
(416) 314-8704