Ivie Patino uses a device for her research project. (WINK News photo) Students researchers at Florida Gulf Coast University want to make sure no family loses another loved one to cancer. For Ivie Patino, finding a treatment or cure for cancer is personal. “I was trying to kind of help my grandmother even though our research is still really early on,” Patino said. The FGCU student is closing in on her quest to make it happen as she is teaming up with her professors and researching a cancer treatment using nanoparticles. “My mission when I came to FGCU was to start the bionano research organization, which essentially integrates everything with nanoparticles,” said Kerry J. Lee, an assistant professor of Human Biology. “We want to try to use nanoparticles as a type of nanomedicine. We’re using nanoparticles not only with resistant strains and bacteria but also with cancers.” It is these tiny particles that Patino said can work with chemotherapy drugs to target specific cancer cells versus the healthy cells surrounding it. The university will showcase Patino’s research along with others at its ‘Research Roadshow’ Thursday. The ‘Research Roadshow’ will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center in Downtown Fort Myers. While they have not found a cure for cancer, they hope it is the first step to better diagnosis and treatment. “We’re kind of far to finding a cure for cancer, but if we can treat more precisely we can alleviate some of those terrible side effects,” Patino said, “and hopefully treat the patient better and more efficiently.”