Functional nanoscale materials

Advanced Healthcare

We explore the potential of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in:

  • Drug delivery systems,

  • Diagnostics & imaging, and

  • Biosensing,

enabling more targeted and effective medical treatments.


Current project:
"EZH2 inhibition in combination with tumor cell specific drug delivery of ATO in AT/RT" (2021-2024, supported by the German Cancer Aid).

Completed project:

"Preclinical evaluation of arsenic trioxide in nanoparticle formulation for sonic hedgehog activated atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors" (2017-2020, supported by the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung).

"Coordination networks for sensing in medicine" (2021-2022, supported by DFG Priority program 1928, COORNETs).


Recent reviews:

Bunzen H., Jirak D: Recent Advances in Metal-Organic Frameworks for Applications in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 50445–50462.

Sönksen M., Kerl K., Bunzen H.: Current status and future prospects of nanomedicine for arsenic trioxide delivery to solid tumors, Med. Res. Rev. 2022, 42, 374-398.

Bunzen H.: Chemical stability of metal-organic frameworks for applications in drug delivery, ChemNanoMat 2021, 7, 998-1007.


Selected publications:

Ettlinger R., Moreno N., Ziółkowska N., Ullrich A., Krug von Nidda H.-A., Jirák D., Kerl K., Bunzen H.*: In Vitro Studies of Fe3O4-ZIF-8 Core-Shell Nanoparticles Designed as Potential Theragnostics, Part. & Part. Syst. Char. 2020, 2000185.

Schnabel J., Ettlinger R., Bunzen H.: Zn-MOF-74 as pH-responsive drug delivery system of arsenic trioxide, ChemNanoMat 2020, 6, 1229-1236.

Ettlinger R., Moreno N., Volkmer D., Kerl K., Bunzen H.: Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 as pH-sensitive Nanocarrier for 'Arsenic Trioxide' Drug Delivery, Chem. Eur J. 2019, 25, 13189-13196.

Ettlinger R., Sönksen M., Graf M., Moreno N., Denysenko D., Volkmer D., Kerl K., Bunzen H.: Metal-organic framework nanoparticles for arsenic trioxide drug delivery, J. Mater. Chem. B 2018, 6, 6481-6489.