Multivalent site-specific phage modification enhances the binding affinity of receptor ligands.

High-throughput screening of combinatorial chemical libraries is a powerful approach for identifying targeted molecules. The display of combinatorial peptide libraries on the surface of bacteriophages offers a rapid, economical way to screen billions of peptides for specific binding properties and has impacted fields ranging from cancer to vaccine development. As a modification to this approach, we have previously created a system that enables site-specific insertion of selenocysteine (Sec) residues into peptides displayed pentavalently on M13 phage as pIII coat protein fusions.

Mechanisms for targeted delivery of nanoparticles in cancer.

With the evolution of the "omics" era, our molecular understanding of cancer has exponentially increased, leading to the development of the concept of personalized medicine. Nanoparticle technology has emerged as a way to combine cancer specific targeting with multifunctionality, such as imaging and therapy, leading to advantages over conventional small molecule based approaches. In this review, we discuss the targeting mechanisms of nanoparticles, which can be passive or active.

Targeted nanoparticles in imaging: paving the way for personalized medicine in the battle against cancer.

The way we view cancer has advanced greatly in the past few decades from simplistic approaches to finely honed systems. This transition has been made possible because of advancements on two fronts: the first is the rapidly expanding knowledge base of the mechanisms and characteristics of cancer; the second is innovation in imaging agent design. Rapid advancements in imaging and therapeutic agents are being made through the evolution from one-dimensional molecules to multi-functional nanoparticles.