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NYU Abu Dhabi Develops Cancer-Fighting Nanospheres

The biotech breakthrough promises safer and more effective treatments using photodynamic and photothermal therapies.

Published

3 years ago

September 18, 2023

Nour Nasir

NYU Abu Dhabi

A Research team from NYU Abu Dhabi’s Magzoub lab has made considerable advances in the fight against cancer using biocompatible nanospheres that have the potential to replace traditional forms of treatment.

The experiments trialed photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), which use non-invasive light waves to destroy cancers, avoiding the well-known side effects of chemo and radiotherapy.

Photodynamic therapy works by releasing a torrent of reactive oxygen species (ROS) onto cancer cells, whereas photothermal therapy converts light into searing heat, destroying tumor tissues through hyperthermia.

The research team has detailed their findings in a paper entitled “pH-Responsive Upconversion Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres for Combined Multimodal Diagnostic Imaging and Targeted Photodynamic and Photothermal Cancer Therapy”. The literature goes on to explain how the nanospheres are able to protect encapsulated photosensitizers and photothermal agents from degrading, enabling them to be delivered directly to cancer cells.

Alongside thermal and fluorescent imaging, traditional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is also used for tumor detection and monitoring. Once cancer is detected, the PDT and PTT can kill tumors without leaving toxic traces in the body.

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Loganathan Palanikumar, a senior researcher in the NYUAD Magzoub lab, explained the process, “To make PDT effective, we need enough photosensitizer in the tumor tissue, while PTT requires a substantial accumulation of photothermal agents within tumors”.

Mazin Magzoub, NYUAD associate professor of biology and Magzoub lab leader, added, “New therapeutic approaches are desperately needed to enhance the existing arsenal of cancer-fighting treatments”.

Magzoub lab’s new treatments offer real hope that cancers could soon be treated with minimal stress and danger to patients, leading to a brighter future free from one of the world’s most feared and destructive diseases.

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Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.