In the production of astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis, the process of growing algal biomass in the vegetative green stage is an indispensable step in both suspended and immobilized cultivations. The green algal biomass is usually cultured in a suspension under a low light intensity. However, for astaxanthin accumulation, the microalgae need to be centrifuged and transferred to a new medium or culture system, a significant difficulty when upscaling astaxanthin production. In this research, a small-scale angled twin-layer porous substrate photobioreactor (TL-PSBR) was used to cultivate green stage biomass of H. pluvialis. Under low light intensities of 20–80 µmol photons m⁻²·s⁻¹, algae in the biofilm consisted exclusively of non-motile vegetative cells (green palmella cells) after ten days of culturing. The optimal initial biomass density was 6.5 g·m⁻², and the dry biomass productivity at a light intensity of 80 µmol photons m⁻²·s⁻¹ was 6.5 g·m⁻²·d⁻¹. The green stage biomass of H. pluvialis created in this small-scale angled TL-PSBR can be easily harvested and directly used as the source of material for the inoculation of a pilot-scale TL-PSBR for the production of astaxanthin.

Theragnostic platforms, which integrate therapeutic and diagnostic capabilities, have gained significant interest in drug research because of to their potential advantages. This study reports the development of a novel multifunctional nanoparticle carrier system based on poly(ᴅ,ʟ-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) for the targeted delivery of the chemotherapeutic agent chlorambucil (CHL) and the imaging agent IR780. The approach in this study incorporates Pluronic F127-folate onto the PLGA nanoparticles, which enables targeted delivery to folate receptor-expressing cancer cells. The F127-folate@PLGA/CHL/IR780 nanoparticles were formulated using a nanoprecipitation technique, resulting in small size, high homogeneity, and negative surface charge. Importantly, the folate-targeted nanoparticles demonstrated enhanced uptake and cytotoxicity in folate receptor-positive cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and HepG-2) compared to folate receptor-negative cells (HEK 293). Additionally, the F127-folate@PLGA/CHL/IR780 nanoparticles exhibited a lower IC₅₀ value against cancer cells than non-targeted F127@PLGA/CHL/IR780 nanoparticles. These findings suggest that the developed F127-folate@PLGA/CHL/IR780 nanoparticles hold promise as a theragnostic system for targeted cancer therapy and diagnosis, leveraging the advantages of PLGA, folate targeting, and the integration of therapeutic and imaging agents.

Theragnostics has become a popular term nowadays, since it enables both diagnosis and therapy at the same time while only using one carrier platform. Therefore, formulating a nanocarrier system that could serve as theragnostic agent by using simple techniques would be an advantage during production. In this project, we aimed to develop a nanocarrier that can be loaded with the chemotherapeutic medication chlorambucil and magnetic resonance imaging agents (e.g., iron oxide nanoparticles and near-infrared fluorophore IR780) for theragnostics. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) was combined with the aforementioned ingredients to generate poly(vinyl alcohol)-based nanoparticles (NPs) using the single emulsion technique. Then the NPs were coated with F127 and F127-folate by simple incubation for five days. The nanoparticles have the hydrodynamic size of approx. 250 nm with negative charge. Similar to chlorambucil and IR780, iron oxide loadings were observed for all three kinds of NPs. The release of chlorambucil was quicker at pH 5.4 than at pH 7.4 at 37 °C. The F127@NPs and F127-folate@NPs demonstrated much greater cell uptake and toxicity up to 72 h after incubation. Our in vitro results of F127@NPs and F127-folate@NPs have demonstrated the ability of these systems to serve as medication and imaging agent carriers for cancer treatment and diagnostics, respectively.

Phototherapy is a targeted method for eradicating cancer cells with minimum collateral harm to healthy tissue. The method requires a photosensitiser for cancer realtime monitoring and treatment. Photosensitiser which composes from fluorophore and chemodrug would be an advantage compares to another since it could play many roles such as giving the image of cancer, generating the heat and releasing the drug to kill the cancer cells. IR-780 iodide, heptamethine Cyanine dye, has been used as an ideal platform to construct theranostic agents for cancer imaging and therapy. Chlorambucil (CHL) is an effective chemodrug for cancer therapy which have been ultilized for conjugation to synthesis new drug. Thus, in this study we report a study that combines IR780 and CHL for phototherapy purpose. The new synthesis of IR780-CHL has been confirm the structure by liquid chromatography – mass spectrum (LC-MS) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). The LC-MS findings indicated a mass of 616.35 MW, which corresponded to our predicted fraction. While the 1H NMR demonstrated the presence of resonant peaks in IR780-CHL that are exclusive to CHL and IR780. UV-Vis measurements have revealed that the absorbance of IR780-CHL has moved to 756 nm instead of 780 nm. Before and after laser activation, the toxicity of IR780-CHL was comparable to that of CHL, indicating that the synthesis did not influence the in vitro effectiveness of the drug treatment. The development of IR780-CHL has considerable potential for cancer detection and treatment.