Golden Opportunity! In Texas, La Salle’s Steve Levit to Study How Particles Encased in Gold Could Aid Cancer Treatments

For an internship this summer, La Salle student Steve Levit is off to Texas to look at gold….very tiny pieces of gold. He’ll be studying with Dr. Naomi Halas at Rice University in Houston, who is the inventor of nanoshells, tiny glass particles encased in gold. Her research has centered on using nanoshells to develop new nontoxic treatments for cancer.

Last October, Halas received an honorary doctorate from La Salle, where she graduated in 1980 with a degree in chemistry. Levit was invited to a luncheon with Halas and La Salle’s chemistry faculty. There, Halas suggested Levit apply for an internship with her. Last month he learned he’d been accepted.

“I’ve never been out of Philadelphia -- this is a great opportunity for me to see the rest of the United States,” said Levit, who lives in Northeast Philadelphia. At Rice, he will live in graduate student apartments.

One of his La Salle chemistry professors, Stuart Gentry, conducts research on nanoparticles, specifically regarding the stability and optical properties generated by these particles.

Levit then asked Gentry if he could help with that research, and Gentry agreed. “He gave me the freedom to try out new things,” said Levit. Last semester, Levit did an independent research project on nanoshells under Gentry’s supervision. “I find that Steve has an enthusiasm for working in the lab and is not afraid to try new things,” said Gentry. 

Dr. Halas has found that nanoshells when injected into the veins of cancerous mice, cluster around tumors. When a laser is beamed at the nanoshells, the light heats up the cancerous cells, destroying the tumor while not harming the surrounding tissue. Clinical trials on the use of this technique could begin later this year.

A Bio-chemistry major at La Salle who completed his freshmen year, Levit hopes to attend medical school after he graduates.