An iPhone Helped Shyamsundar Solve a Nanoparticle Mystery
Heidi Opdyke
- Associate Dean of Marketing and Communications, MCS
- Email opdyke@andrew.cmu.edu
- Phone 412-268-9982
Instead of capturing a memory with an iPhone, Carnegie Mellon University's Nivedita Shyamsundar used hers to make a scientific discovery.
A senior in the Department of Chemistry, Shyamsundar studies tiny particles that could help medicines and vaccines more effectively travel through the human body and reach their targets. Her work may one day lead to better cancer treatments and stronger vaccines.
"I'm really excited to see where all this research goes," Shyamsundar said.
Working in the lab of Jill Millstone, Leo B. and Teresa Y. Wegemer Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, Shyamsundar worked with researchers creating new metal nanoparticles but were only able to capture the final stages of nanoparticle formation.
"The formation was happening way too fast to capture with typical lab technologies," Shyamsundar said. "I wanted to come up with a more accessible way to see some of the kinetics of the nanoparticle formation."
The researchers noticed that as the nanoparticles formed, the solution changed color. Shyamsundar recorded a reaction with her iPhone. By analyzing the video frame by frame, she tracked how long the colors changed over time and compared those observations with the lab’s data.
Building on this insight, Shyamsundar created a program that allows researchers to monitor nanoparticle formation using cameras they had on hand. Through this program, they discovered how the nanoparticles formed.
“We found out the formation mechanism wasn’t the classical one of metal atoms coming together one-by-one,” Shyamsundar said. “It was actually clusters of metal atoms coalescing.”
Their work was published in the American Chemical Society’s Langmuir with Shyamsundar as second author. Millstone said her lab continues to use Shyamsundar’s program.
“This innovation was possible not only because Niv is outstandingly smart and a hard worker, but because Niv is unusually talented in engaging available tools to solve longstanding problems in creative, robust ways that make real impact,” Millstone said.
Now, Shyamsundar investigates how nanoparticles can be used to improve cancer treatments. Traditional chemotherapy attacks cancerous and healthy cells, often causing severe side effects. By designing nanoparticles that can better exploit the acidic tumor microenvironment for drug release, she hopes to develop a treatment that improves delivery of chemotherapy drugs to cancer cells while reducing damage to healthy tissue.
To do this, she uses the nanoparticle core as an anchor for molecules — known as a ligand shell — that can regulate what and when cancer-fighting molecules are released. The shell resembles a pom-pom, with strings can both protect the drug and treat cancer depending on what environment they land in.By changing the chemistry of these anchored molecules, she can more precisely tune drug release.
The shell hides the drug when the nanoparticle is in a chemical environment of healthy cells, but when it reaches the acidic environment near cancer cells, the particles spring into action.
“Changing ligand shell behavior has the potential to make a big impact on how the drug releases,” said Shyamsundar. “I hope this project expands our perspective on nanoparticle-mediated cancer treatment.”
Her interest in targeted delivery extends beyond cancer therapy. During her internship with Moderna, she investigated factors affecting the formation of lipid nanoparticles for vaccine delivery. She wants to combine her expertise from academia and industry to develop a broader understanding of nanoparticle drug delivery systems.
For her efforts, Shyamsundar earned the Lois Jean Durham Scholarship, which recognizes excellence in chemistry and biochemistry. Gizelle Sherwood, teaching professor and director of undergraduate studies for chemistry, said Shyamsundar is a strong student and a skilled chemist.
“Nivedita stands apart because of her academic discipline, independent research, maturity, analytical precision and demonstrated growth as a scientific leader,” Sherwood said. “She has positioned herself at the intersection of materials chemistry and biological application, and I look forward to seeing what she does.”
After she graduates in spring 2027, Shyamsundar plans to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry. She said she hopes to continue her work using nanoparticles for drug and vaccine delivery.
“I want to keep exploring their potential and seeing what we can manipulate when it comes to their structure and chemistry,” Shyamsundar said. “I want to see how far we can go with these nanoparticles.”
