NIH awards Emory and Georgia Tech $10 million for partnerships in cancer nano...( ATLANTA-- The National Institutes of He...)

ATLANTA-- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded scientists from Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology two new collaborative research grants, totaling nearly $10 million, to establish a multidisciplinary research program in cancer nanotechnology and to develop a new class of nanoparticles for molecular and cellular imaging. Working at the sub-atomic level, these scientists are seeking data that will link molecular signatures, (underlying molecular features), to patients' clinical outcomes, so that cancers can be predicted, detected earlier and treated more effectively. Although the primary focus of the new programs will be prostate cancer, the research will have broad applications to many types of tumors, including breast and colorectal cancer and lymphoma.

Dr. Shuming Nie, PhD, principal investigator of the project, is one of the first scientists in the world to utilize nanotechnology in the biomedical field. Used in manufacturing for many years, nanotechnology enables scientists to build devices and materials one atom or molecule at a time, creating tightly packed structures that take on new properties by virtue of their miniature size. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Most animal cells are 10,000- 20,000 nanometers in diameter, so nanoscale devices are tiny enough to enter cells and analyze DNA and proteins, potentially identifying and treating cancerous cells at much earlier stages than currently possible.

The National Cancer Institute has awarded a five-year grant of $7.1 million to establish a multidisciplinary Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) in cancer nanotechnology. This partnership will integrate the bioengineering strengths of Georgia Tech and the cancer biology and clinical oncology expertise of Emory University School of Medicine and the Winship Cancer Institute. The new program is part of the joint Coulter De
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Contact: Holly Korschun
hkorsch@emory.edu
404-727-3990
Emory University Health Sciences Center
6-Oct-2004

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