From the Future: New cancer treatments

By SPENCER KELLY and GABBY BEECHERT news Writers

For many, the phrase “curing cancer” has devolved into a tongue-in-cheek expression to deride projects that are too ambitious or miraculous to be taken seriously. b ut in truth, progress is being made on cancer treatment, even if an outright cure hasn’t yet been found. The national c ancer Institute notes that from 2015-2019, “cancer death rates continued to fall among men, women, children and adolescents and young adults in every major racial and ethnic group in the United s tates.” n otre d ame is contributing to this progress with its h arper c ancer r esearch Institute in collaboration with Indiana University, s outh b end. In this edition of From the Future, The o bserver showcases three n otre d ame researchers exploring innovative ways of treating cancer and improving the lives of those afflicted by it.

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets: A compelling cancer treatment from the world of physics d r. s ylwia Ptasinska, Associate Professor, d epartment of Physics and Astronomy s ylwia Ptasinska, associate professor of physics and astronomy, came to n otre d ame for opportunities like this.

A physicist by training, she was lured to s outh b end 12 years ago with the promise of being able to do applied, interdisciplinary research.

“I always wanted to do physics, but not pure theoretical physics,” Ptasinska said. “I wanted to have some motivation behind [my work].

And in medical applications, I could see I can contribute.”

Today, Ptasinska’s interdisciplinary research group explores, among other topics, biomedical applications for atmospheric pressure plasma jets. In conjunction with the h arper c ancer r esearch Institute, Ptasinska and her colleagues are studying the use of plasma jets as a cancer treatment option.

Ptasinska’s team has created a device that emits a low-power artificial plasma jet capable of damaging biological tissues, including cancerous cells. This device presents numerous advantages to existing cancer treatment options.

For one, plasma jets are simple and cheap to construct. Ptasinska noted that you could potentially build such a device “even in your home … if you know a little bit about electricity and you’re careful with high voltage.”

This, of course, is not an invitation from Ptasinska to do so. s till, it emphasizes how accessible plasma jets can be, especially in comparison to something like the X-ray technology used in certain cancer treatments.

Plasma jets have also shown to be more accurate than most current cancer treatment options. m any methods have a side effect of killing healthy tissues as well as harmful ones, but early studies seem to indicate that plasma jets can kill cancerous cells in a targeted manner.

While plasma jets have clear advantages over existing options, there is still work to be done before this method can be deployed as a standalone or adjuvant treatment — which is exactly the objective of Ptasinska’s lab.

The primary obstacle at the moment is determining the appropriate dose of plasma radiation for the treatment. Ptasinska said that estimating radiation doses with plasma is more difficult than other types of matter, and this issue cannot necessarily be solved using a physics lens alone. s o, her lab collaborates with people from chemistry and computer science backgrounds who can help address the plasma radiation problem in creative, interdisciplinary ways.

“We are trying to find methods like borrowing ideas from chemistry or from computational methodology to estimate the dose of plasma,” Ptasinska said.

Though hurdles remain, Ptasinska explained that plasma jets are already employed to treat cancer in countries like Germany and Japan, which have highly respected biomedical technology industries. d iffering medical treatment protocols are slowing the process of implementation in the United s tates, but clinical trials are underway. Ptasinska thinks atmospheric pressure plasma jets will be approved in the Us as a standalone or adjuvant cancer treatment very soon.

“I think it will be just a few years,” Ptasinska said.

Lighting up cancerous tissue d r. b radley s mith, e mil T. h ofman Professor of s cience, d epartment of c hemistry and b iochemistry b radley s mith, the e mil T. h ofman professor of science, works to improve current methods of cancer-removing surgeries by researching new fluorescence imaging methods and photothermal therapy techniques. s mith, who began working at the University in 1991, began his research in this area due to his interest in imaging and sensing technology.

In his research, he utilizes either nanoparticle probes or dye molecules that accumulate in tumor cells that absorb a certain frequency of near-infrared light. When the particles are exposed to this frequency during high resolution body imaging techniques, the location of tumors can be identified. b y using these images, the tumor can be removed in a process known as fluorescence-guided surgery, s mith said.

“I’m a chemistry professor who looks at a lot of fundamental chemistry things. And then in the last 20 years, I’ve gotten into imaging technologies and detection technologies,” s mith said. “We’ve looked at a number of diseases, and cancer is one of them.”

Although the cancer death rate has dropped in the last 20 years — and there is an increase in cancer treatments — improving surgical methods of removing cancer is still a “very sensible and common thing to do,” s mith said.

Locating a tumor is very important because surgeons must cut out a small portion of healthy tissue surrounding the tumor to ensure that all cancerous cells have been removed. This is known as a negative margin, s mith said.

“If they see a spot where there’s not that margin — that is called a positive margin — that has still got cancer cells in it, that is not good. You don’t want your surgeon doing that,” s mith said. “And that means they’ll have to go back and try to cut more of it out. And it is known that if you have positive margins, you’re more likely to get the cancer coming back.” s urgeons are better equipped to determine a negative margin when conducting fluorescence-guided surgery, s mith said. The surgeons shine a light on the area with the cancer cells and a camera that is more sensitive than the human eye collects an image of the fluorescent cells.

In addition to locating the tumor, s mith said a similar technique could ultimately be used to kill cancerous cells.

“If I now just shined stronger light, then I could put a lot of energy and I could begin to heat it up. That would also kill cancer cells,” s mith said. s o far, s mith and his team successfully killed the cancerous cells from a mouse. They injected the mouse with a nanoparticle that accumulated into the tumor, shined a laser beam on the area and removed it. s mith’s current work also aspires to improve two aspects of the nanoparticles and dyes: the part that targets the cancer cells, and the part that absorbs the light. b ecause this treatment is still being researched and improved, it will only benefit patients of the future. b ut s mith hopes that people recognize the role their tax dollars will play in the current research in this area.

“Wherever the dye is, is where you’re going to get heat. s o if our dye is selectively in the cancer, we’re golden, but it’s not 100 percent,” s mith said.

“Their taxes are going to things that in the long term may not benefit them, but their children and their children’s children and all of that sort of stuff,” s mith said. “ s o there’s sort of a public message in there that if you can’t directly do this research yourself, by paying your taxes, you are indirectly supporting that.”

The psychology of coping with cancer

d r. Thomas m erluzzi, Professor, d epartment of Psychology

Thomas m erluzzi, a newly-retired professor of psychology, researches how the coping processes of those with cancer influences their quality of life.

m erluzzi began his psychology career studying the cognitive aspects of social anxiety. b ut after his first wife passed away of breast cancer, he delved into psycho-oncology, the study of the psychological aspects of cancer.

“ s o what I did was probably turn this tragedy into something that I hoped would benefit people, including myself,” m erluzzi said.

Although his own personal experiences inspired him to join the field, he used to not share this information. m erluzzi said he believed it was important to be respected for his work separate from his personal life.

h is research is focused on the mindset of the patients themselves and how they view themselves in the context of their own cancer treatment.

“Within the bounds of the disease, I look at persons with cancer as agents, collaborators in their care,” m erluzzi said. “ s o, what they want for their life in terms of quality of life, the decisions they make, [we] try to encourage them to participate in that as an active agent of their care, rather than a passive recipient of care.” s ocial support, m erluzzi said, is tantamount to medicine. Just as patients are active in their coping, they must also be active in the pursuit of social connections. e ffective social support should also match the needs of the patient because not all social support is good, m erluzzi said.

There is evidence that those who feel more efficacious about coping with cancer will feel less depressed and feel their quality of life is better, m erluzzi said. This will help them adhere to treatments better and increase satisfaction with their care.

It is important to note that this form of research may not affect the longevity of life-after treatment, but it still has its benefits.

“If someone has a great attitude, is that going to mean they’re going to live longer? Well, no, but they’re gonna live better,” m erluzzi said.

The quality of social support that those going through cancer treatment receive also plays a role in improving their quality of life.

“If somebody is doing something for you, and you don’t need the help, it’s debilitating. It will make you feel more like a patient,” m erluzzi said. “[There is] this matching of need and provision. s o in other words, when that comes together, that means you’re getting the social support you need when you need it. And if you don’t need it, you’re doing stuff on your own, as you usually did.” h e is also currently working on a project that involves religious coping. h is research has determined that the quality of life for patients who put the outcome of their treatment “in God’s hands” is better than that of patients who take on the responsibility of future outcomes, he said.

“The best possible thing you can do would be to be an empowered patient who takes responsibility, who’s self-efficacious, but also is not going to get all wrapped up in whether they’re going to live 30 years from now or whether their cancer is going to be cured,” s mith said. “They’re going to let go of that, but they’re going to concentrate on the present.” m erluzzi said he hopes to investigate a secular version of this mindset. Although m erluzzi retired on d ec. 31 of last year— after spending 48 years at the University — he plans to continue his research in this area with colleagues from around the globe.

Contact Spencer Kelly at skelly25@nd.edu and Gabby Beechert at gbeecher@nd.edu

vice president s ofie s titt had sophomore Lauren Taylor read the opening prayer, approved the prior meeting’s minutes with a vote from the senate and announced the return of the s tudent Life c ouncil ( s L c ) to n otre d ame.

“It’s a huge deal,” s titt said of the upcoming s L c forum, which will be held Tuesday at 8 p.m. in c arey Auditorium. “ b ut the continuation is contingent upon attendance because I gave them my scouts honor that we really wanted this, the student body really wants this… Please come and bring your friends.”

Cooking Classes

After the announcement, the senate moved on to general orders. s ophomore and Keenan h all senator c onnor because some people that we are welcoming will have never seen campus and some will have only seen it covered in masks,” o chocki said. “It’s been an odd class in terms of even just bonding. I’m hopeful that people can see that we made it through — we made those relationships still.”

Julia c acciotti, the other event co-chair, spoke on how the weekend could be improved. This year, the JPW committee had the idea to offer n otre d ame s tadium tours, but could not because the stadium is not “winterized.” c acciotti added that although she likes the concept, hosting a more general family weekend for siblings would be complicated logistically.

“It’s hard enough with 3,000 people coming,” c acciotti said. “To add siblings in that mix would be a huge undertaking… It’d be cool to get siblings in the dorms and give them a taste of college life.”

Junior class president Paul s toller, who will be speaking at s aturday’s dinner, said the celebration is “huge” for the c lass of 2024, who transitioned into college at the height of the cov I d -19 pandemic.

“It’s really night and day that we have 3,500 people coming together for that dinner compared to what we had to go through freshman year,” s toller said. “ b ut that experience really made our class a lot closer. And I think across the board, we have a very strong bond.”

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu m c c loskey read ss 2223-14, the resolution calling upon c ampus d ining to “make cooking classes available to students.” m c c loskey, who co-sponsored the resolution with four other senators, argued that c ampus d ining stands to mutually benefit from the proposed classes.

“ c ampus d ining struggles to maintain an adequate workforce to fully staff the dining halls and efficiently operate the kitchen facilities,” m c c loskey said while reading the resolution.

“ questions on the bill, there was no debate and no dissenters when the senate voted.

Treasurer Confirmation

The nomination of b laskiewicz for the treasurer position was originally part of new business on the senate agenda Wednesday night, but the senate, considering the fact that the treasurer term begins on m arch 1, motioned to move the nomination into general orders for the meeting.

said. “I am requesting that the senate approve her nomination as a result of her extensive qualifications.” o nce again, though some senators posed questions to b laskiewicz during questioning, there was no debate against the nomination and no dissenters when the senate was asked to vote on it.

Anti-Robot Federation s tudent workers already employed at both n orth and s outh d ining h all have expressed an interest and desire to learn more about the kitchen facilities and cooking procedures at the university to meet the need for more workers and to complete additional professional training and development.”

Although senators asked o utgoing treasurer c laire e velyn s ison read her submission nominating b laskiewicz for the position to the senate.

“I recommend this student without reservation because of her passion to become more involved in the n otre d ame community and to assist the o ffice of the s tudent Union Treasurer in becoming more efficient,” s ison m oving on to new business for a second time in the meeting, the senate listened to Alumni h all senator James b aird give an impassioned speech against the recent development of Grubhub delivery robots that have been implemented onto n otre d ame’s campus. Though the senators laughed when b aird referred to “the Anti r obot Federation, otherwise known as ‘A r F,’” which he said was formed by disgruntled members of Alumni h all, b aird insisted that the issue was serious.

“This is a very important issue to Alumni [ h all] students and the students at n otre d ame and, perhaps, the students of the entire world,” b aird said. “The [artificial intelligence] revolution can start right here under our nose, we have no idea. s o please, please take this seriously.” b efore the meeting adjourned, s titt briefly thanked the senators for behaving well during the recent student government elections.

“We had a pretty brutal election last year, and I didn’t want that to happen again,” s titt said. “And I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of all of you for your character — so much better all around this year.”

Contact Liam Price at lprice3@nd.edu