The EVONANO platform allows scientists to grow virtual tumors and use artificial intelligence to automatically optimize the design of nanoparticles to treat them. The ability to grow and treat virtual tumors is an important step towards developing new therapies for cancer. Importantly, scientists can use virtual tumors to optimize design of nanoparticle-based drugs before they are tested in the laboratory or patients.

The ability to grow and treat virtual tumours is an important step towards developing new therapies for cancer. Importantly, scientists can use virtual tumours to optimise design of nanoparticle-based drugs before they are tested in the laboratory or patients.

The paper, ‘Evolutionary computational platform for the automatic discovery of nanocarriers for cancer treatment,’ is published today in the Nature journal Computational Materials. The paper is the result of the European project EVONANO which involves Dr Sabine Hauert and Dr. Namid Stillman from the University of Bristol, and is led by Dr Igor Balaz at the University of Novi Sad.

«Simulations enable us to test many treatments, very quickly, and for a large variety of tumours. We are still at the early stages of making virtual tumours, given the complex nature of the disease, but the hope is that even these simple digital tumours can help us more efficiently design nanomedicines for cancer,» said Dr Hauert.

Dr Hauert said having the software to grow and treat virtual tumours could prove useful in the development of targeted cancer treatments.

«In the future, creating a digital twin of a patient tumour could enable the design of new nanoparticle treatments specialised for their needs, without the need for extensive trial and error or laboratory work, which is often costly and limited in its ability to quickly iterate on solutions suited for individual patients,» said Dr Hauert.

Story Source: Materials provided by University of Bristol. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.