Hutchinson Center to receive NCI, NSF training grants for nanobiotechnology

General Article

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced a collaboration that will establish integrative training environments for U.S. science and engineering doctoral students to focus on interdisciplinary nanoscience and technology research with applications to cancer. Through this partnership, $12.8 million in grants are being awarded to four projects over the next five years.

The four selected projects will each support approximately 30 students and are linked to regional cancer centers and the biomedical research community, including the Hutchinson Center. They are as follows:

• Building Leadership for the Nanotechnology Workforce of Tomorrow, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. This joint institute for nanotechnology involving University of Washington, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will focus on new directions in bionanotechnology. Such directions include medical applications of nanoscale platforms; use of nanoscale tools to understand biological mechanisms underlying disease and to diagnose and treat disease; and combining expertise and techniques across physical science, biomedicine and engineering.
• Integrative Nanoscience and Microsystems, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M. This program is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico's Center for High Technology Materials within the School of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Cancer Research and Treatment Center.
• NanoPharmaceutical Engineering and Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. This collaboration between Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Puerto Rico, will prepare a diverse set of trainees to develop a wide array of nanoparticle-based biocompatible drug delivery systems, including DNA-based delivery systems for brain cancer, and preventive agents.
• Nanomedical Science and Technology, Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. This project will establish a new interdisciplinary doctoral education program in Nanomedical Science and Technology, with a multidisciplinary faculty that will work together to develop solutions to complex problems at the interface of nanotechnology, biotechnology and medicine.

The awards are granted through NSF's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT). The IGERT program is intended to facilitate greater diversity in student participation and preparation and contribute to the development of a diverse, globally-engaged science and engineering workforce.

"We believe that by providing a critical mass of individuals who are prepared to work in a multi-disciplinary environment, these grants will accelerate the application of nanotechnology to specific cancer needs, such as the development of research tools to identify new biological targets, agents to monitor and predict molecular changes, imaging agents and diagnostics to detect cancer, novel targeting devices to deliver therapeutic agents, and systems to provide real-time assessments of therapeutic and surgical efficacy," said Dr. Lee Hartwell, Center president and director.

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