News
NYU Abu Dhabi Develops Cancer-Fighting Nanospheres
The biotech breakthrough promises safer and more effective treatments using photodynamic and photothermal therapies.
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.
Also Read: Dubai Airport To Introduce Complete Biometric Admin System
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.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
RØDE’s New DS3 Studio Arm Is Built For Heavier Creator Setups
Dubai Turns AI On Its Own Civil Service To Measure Productivity
Former Rockstar Director Dismisses GTA 6 Leaks As “Nothing Burger”
Qatar Airways Flies The World’s First Starlink-Equipped 787-9
Spotify Will Now Tell You If Your Favorite Artist Isn’t Real
Instagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”
Anghami’s New Elite Program Starts With A Three-Decade Catalog
Qatar Is Getting Its First EV Plant, Built To Cope With Gulf Heat
Dubai’s aradus Wants AI To Run The Back Office Of Physical Trade
-
News3 weeks agoInstagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”
-
News3 weeks agoAnghami’s New Elite Program Starts With A Three-Decade Catalog
-
News3 weeks agoQatar Is Getting Its First EV Plant, Built To Cope With Gulf Heat
-
News3 weeks agoDubai’s aradus Wants AI To Run The Back Office Of Physical Trade