Metal nanoparticles (NPs), because of their unique physical/chemical properties, have received considerable attention in recent years. NPs have the potential to not only increase the drug efficacy but can also be modified for targeted selectivity toward tumor cells to improve image resolution and/or reduce off-target toxicities. This project is designed to use pure natural products to synthesize and design a new generation of gold (Au) NPs that can avoid the short coming of the current AuNPs as well as the conventional therapeutic agents. Green nanomedicine is in its infancy stage, and many aspects like toxicity and biodistribution are not clear and more efforts are needed to establish these innovations.

This project is aligned with BRICS new strategies included in green economy framework to reduce the toxic industrial by products especially in the medical field. Three partners from Russia, China and South Africa consolidated this project which implements a new strategy to prepare new AuNPs and their in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility as well as nanotoxicity. Three phases were designed for completion of this proposal; the first is to design and characterize new gold NPs (SA team), second phase to study their biocompatibility and activity in vitro (R & C teams), and phase three is in vivo preclinical and biodistribution studies of the prepared NPs (R & C teams).