To help overcome chemotherapy resistance, David H. Koch Professor in Engineering Paula Hammond and her team have created targeted, multi-layer nanoparticles that codeliver the cancer drug doxorubicin, alongside RNA that can shut off a gene that cancer cells use to escape the drug. This strategy disables tumors' defenses and makes them much more vulnerable to chemotherapy. Using these nanoparticles, the researchers were able to shrink agressive triple-negative breast tumors in mice, as reported in the journal ACS Nano. The team is now testing the therapy in a more complex model of the cancer, and they are also working on adapting it to treat ovarian and lung cancers. The research was funded by a TRANSCEND grant from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the National Cancer Institute. The study has been profiled in media outlets including MIT News, The Economist, Chicago Tribune, Chemical and Engineering News, Science Daily, and Computer World.