Using Gold to Stop Ebola In Its Track

By Thomas Webster
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts
BiologyEngineering
Open Access
$0
Raised of $5,000 Goal
0%
Ended on 11/11/14
Campaign Ended
  • $0
    pledged
  • 0%
    funded
  • Finished
    on 11/11/14

About This Project

Ebola is quickly getting out of control since we have no effective treatment strategy. This proposal will create unique nanoparticles that can latch onto Ebola and kill it. It will provide a viable strategy to end the Ebola crisis but we must act now.

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What is the context of this research?

Ebola currently has no treatment. This project will build off of strategies where nanotechnology has been used to kill cancer cells to kill the Ebola virus. Specifically, it will use nanotechnology, or materials with one dimension in the nanoscale (approximately 1/80,000th the diameter of a strand of human hair). Nanotechnology has revolutionized cancer treatment since certain nanoparticles (like gold) can attach to cancer cells and under infra-red excitation, heat up to kill the cancer cell while leaving healthy cells untouched. Healthy cells have a higher tolerance for heat than cancer cells. The same is true for Ebola. This project will use this same approach to attract Ebola to gold nanoparticles which under infra-red excitation will destroy Ebola and keep it from replicating.

What is the significance of this project?

This project is the first step to stop the spreading Ebola since it will render the virus useless for replication. It will allow for a quick treatment since it is following a strategy similar to FDA approved approaches to treat cancer. In addition, patients will not be harmed who do not have Ebola through this treatment since gold is inert and not toxic to the body. The gold nanoparticles will circulate in the patient for up to 21 days since symptoms of Ebola may not appear for 21 days after exposure. The gold nanoparticles will be easily excreted through natural means after killing Ebola and if it does not exist. In this way, we will create gold nanoparticles that can both prevent and treat Ebola, and if not present, present no harm to the patient.

What are the goals of the project?

This project will create gold nanoparticles that can attract Ebola and heat up to kill Ebola when exposed to infra-red light (which can be easily applied to a patient through a hand held device). After formulating the gold nanoparticles, we will test their ability to kill synthetic Ebola mimics. The next phase of this promising research is to test it using animal models. This will be a quick set of experiments to develop a solution for the current Ebola outbreak fast.

Thus, the goals of this project are to develop a gold nanoparticle approach to kill Ebola which is:

  • fast (works within hours of injection),
  • quick for FDA approval (due to predicate cancer research),
  • simple,
  • can be used anywhere,
  • can treat Ebola for up 21 days after exposure,
  • safe, and
  • effective (100% killing).

Budget

Right now, there is very limited funding from the government or industry to support Ebola research, which is why we are currently facing an Ebola problem.

Although this project does not request that much funding, it will make a significant, quick, impact on treating Ebola. Funding is requested to support a graduate student to make the gold nanostars and determine their ability to detect as well as kill Ebola mimics ($3500). Supplies to make the gold nanostars as well as consumables for the experiments were estimated at $1500. The total project requests only $5000 in funding and results will be available in as early as 1 month. This quick project will provide an immediate treatment possibility for Ebola.

Meet the Team

Thomas Webster
Thomas Webster

Team Bio

I have spent my career making and testing nanoparticles to promote human health. Over the past 15 years, we have used nanoparticles to increase tissue growth and decrease infection. However, this is our first attempt to kill viruses, like Ebola. I am committed to improving human health and we have been caught off guard by this current Ebola crisis. Nanoparticles hold extreme promise to kill viruses and this study will provide a material which could easily be used anywhere in the word to stop the spreading of Ebola. There is also a bright future for these materials to treat yet undiscovered viruses for generations to come to promote human health. This is the first step.

Lab Notes

Nothing posted yet.

Press and Media

I have been featured on Fox and local news talking about Ebola and nanotechnology approaches:

http://www.necn.com/news/health/American-Ebola-Pat...

Additional Information

Pictured here is an image of the unique gold nanoparticles (or nanostars) that we create. These have been extensively used for treating cancer and have been found safe and effective. This is the first study to determine their use for fighting Ebola. Note the nanostar formulation which allows for much easier heating of the nanoparticles when exposed to infra-red excitation. This allows the gold to heat up quicker and more effectively to kill Ebola.

Another advantage of using gold for the treatment of Ebola, is that after attachment, imaging tools, such as Raman Spectroscopy, could be used to detect if Ebola is present. This is possible due to a different spectra that would be obtained for the gold nanostars which do not have Ebola attached compared to gold nanostars which do.

This will also be a focus of this study since it will provide a way to diagnose Ebola exposure, something that currently does not exist and would help stop spreading of the virus.

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