Bold opening: A new frontier in brain cancer therapy could hinge on tiny carriers that cross the brain’s natural defenses. And this is the part most people miss: the science isn’t just about drugs, it’s about delivering them exactly where they’re needed. Here’s how a rising scientist is pursuing that breakthrough and why it matters.
Emerging scientist to test novel nanoparticle therapy for glioblastoma
News update — Glioblastoma remains among the most aggressive and deadly brain cancers. Michael Gomes, a PhD candidate at the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP), has been awarded the 2026 South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Institutional Clinician Researcher Development Programme scholarship to advance his work on nanoparticle-based drug delivery for glioblastoma.
Why this matters
Glioblastoma cells propagate quickly through surrounding brain tissue, making complete surgical removal challenging and leading to a high chance of recurrence. The scholarship will enable Gomes to concentrate on creating advanced nanoscale drug carriers that can deliver chemotherapy more effectively to brain tumors.
What glioblastoma looks like today
Glioblastoma is a fast-growing, highly invasive cancer arising from glial cells in the brain. Even with standard care—maximal safe tumor resection followed by radiation and temozolomide chemotherapy—outcomes remain poor. Many patients survive only 12 to 18 months after diagnosis. In South Africa and across Africa, survival rates are often lower due to delays in diagnosis, limited access to specialized neurosurgical care, and the high cost of advanced treatments.
Beyond the blood–brain barrier
A major hurdle in treating brain tumors is delivering drugs to the tumor site. The brain is protected by the blood–brain barrier, which blocks many chemotherapy agents from reaching effective concentrations. Gomes’s work compares three nanoparticle-based delivery systems—liposomes, polymer-based particles, and polydopamine nanoparticles—to determine which best transports chemotherapy to brain tumors.
How these carriers work
These microscopic vehicles encapsulate cancer drugs and ferry them directly to tumor sites, boosting drug concentration there while reducing systemic side effects.
- Liposomes: tiny spherical particles made from lipid membranes; already widely used in drug delivery for various diseases.
- Polymer-based nanoparticles: often built from biodegradable materials like PLGA; can be engineered for controlled release or responsiveness to biological cues.
- Polydopamine nanoparticles: a less-explored option for brain cancer therapy.
What makes polydopamine promising
Polydopamine is a synthetic material inspired by dopamine, a molecule naturally present in the brain. Its chemical compatibility with biological systems suggests it could be a safer, more effective platform for delivering chemotherapy to neural tissue. Gomes notes that polydopamine has not been extensively tested for brain cancer drugs, so this line of inquiry could reveal new therapeutic advantages.
A novel delivery route: the glymphatic system
An innovative twist in Gomes’s project is leveraging the glymphatic system—a recently identified network that circulates cerebrospinal fluid and clears waste from the brain. Instead of relying solely on bloodstream delivery that must cross the blood–brain barrier, the research explores injecting nanoparticles into the cerebrospinal fluid and guiding them along the glymphatic pathway to reach tumors more directly. If successful, this could raise tumor drug concentrations while lowering systemic toxicity.
About the SAMRC Clinician Researcher Development Programme
This highly competitive national program supports clinicians pursuing PhD training alongside medical studies, cultivating clinician-scientists who can translate laboratory discoveries into better patient care. Gomes is enrolled in an intercalated PhD program at Wits University, enabling him to pursue research while continuing medical training. He hopes to specialize in neurosurgery, merging surgical practice with research into new brain tumor therapies.
Supervision and collaboration
Gomes’s work is supervised by Dr Divesha Essa, Dr Nnamdi Ikemefuna Okafor, Professor Dinesh Naidoo, and Professor Yahya Choonara at WADDP. Essa emphasizes the pivotal role of clinician-scientists in bridging lab innovations with real patient needs. She explains that clinical training exposes students to the complexity of actual patient cases, which helps shape practical, implementable research solutions. The project is part of a broader effort to improve brain cancer treatment, involving close collaboration with neurosurgeons to study tumor tissue, build realistic lab models, and test new drug delivery systems in ways that mirror clinical realities. The ultimate aim at WADDP is to close the gap between clinic and lab while keeping patients at the center of the work.
Looking ahead
Choonara, WADDP director, underscores the value of investing in early-career researchers. Scholarships like this create space for talented students to pursue rigorous research while staying connected to clinical practice, a combination seen as essential for developing therapies that are meaningful for patients and health systems alike. Gomes reflects on the scholarship as a chance to advance both his medical training and his research, with the long-term goal of improving outcomes for individuals diagnosed with glioblastoma.
Would you support nanoparticle-based brain cancer therapies if evidence shows they can deliver more drug to tumors with fewer side effects? Share your thoughts in the comments.
