Controllable Growth and Assembling Strategies Based on Nanomaterials for Targeted and Precise Therapy of Malignant Cancers
Authors: Song Xinyue , Zhang Huairong , Yan Tao , Hong Tongtong , Zhang Shusheng 
Published: August 2020

What is the most favorite and original chemistry developed in your research group??

The sensitive detection methods and specific bioimaging strategies for tumor biomarkers, as well as the diagnosis‐therapy integration strategies of malignant cancers.

How do you get into this specific field? Could you please share some experiences with our readers?

I have entered this field for more than 10 years. Till now, cancer remains a major human health problem. Thus, the research about cancer diagnosis and therapy is quite important and interesting. Therefore, our group transferred our research attentions to this field.

How do you supervise your students?

In our group, we try our best to give every student the chance to demonstrate his talents and abilities. They could freely express their ideas or questions in our weekly seminar. Also I encourage the students to review the updated literature and have a clear understanding of the work they did.

What is the most important personality for scientific research?

I think the creativity and dedication to the research are very important for the scientific research.

What's your hobbies? What's your favorite book(s)?

Swimming and walking are my hobbies. I like to read some history books.

How do you keep balance between research and family?

A successful researcher should keep good balance between research and family. Usually, I try to elevate my work efficiency to finish all the work during the working time. Then, I have full time to be with my family.

Who influences you mostly in your life?

My doctoral adviser, professor Hongyuan Chen.

What is your favorite journal(s)?

Chemical Society Reviews and Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Could you please give us some advices on improving Chinese Journal of Chemistry?

Encourage the innovative submissions and endow the editor‐in‐chief with larger discretion.

In the past decades, nanomaterials have achieved great development and received wide application in various fields. Nanomaterials‐based cancer therapy strategies brought great prospects and chance. Recently, we have developed controllable growth and assembling strategies based on nanomaterials for chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy and gene therapy. For chemotherapy, we modified DNA or RNA‐based nanostructures including DNA network, DNA sphere and RNA nanoflowers on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSPs) to develop feasible drug delivery systems, which could achieve the targeted therapy and controllable release. Especially, we developed telomerase‐ responsive drug delivery systems to achieve the highly‐localized chemotherapy. Furthermore, we established novel photodynamic nanotheranostic agents based on upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which owned enhanced energy transfer efficiencies and improved production amount of reactive oxygen species (ROSs). For the photothermal therapy, we investigated novel composite nanomaterials to increase the ability of light‐to‐heat conversion. Finally, we also investigated the application of the RNA‐involved hydrogel in gene therapy. These developed strategies proved the great potential and application of nanomaterials in cancer therapy.