UCLA Engineering Awarded Grant From The NIH To Establish Nanomedicine Developmen

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UCLA Engineering Awarded Grant From The NIH To Establish

Nanomedicine Development Center

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=54687

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from the UCLA Henry i

School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Geffen School

of Medicine at UCLA and UC Berkeley's College of Engineering has

secured a prestigious federal grant from the National Institutes of

Health Roadmap for Medical Research initiative aimed at improving

nanomedical research. Their discoveries could enhance methods of

curing diseases like cancer as well as viral infections at the

molecular scale.

The nanomedicine grant, with a proposed budget of $7 million, will

support the new NIH Nanomedicine Development Center for Cell

Control, to be led by UCLA Engineering professor Chih-Ming Ho.

The center will apply advanced engineering techniques and life

science knowledge to control and investigate how the human body

works at the most basic level. The cells of the human body are

composed of millions of molecules. Researchers aim to control the

interactions of these molecules in an effort to help doctors create

cures for diseases based on how the body's cells actually function.

" I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead this important

multidisciplinary and multi-campus effort. This center boasts a

collaborative team with key strengths in both engineering and

medicine -- a critical combination in nanomedicine, " said Ho, who is

a member of the National Academy of Engineering and holder of the

Ben Rich-Lockheed endowed chair. " By taking the unorthodox

approach of directly controlling the molecular circuitries in cells,

we hope to help effect critical changes in the treatment of

disease. "

The center's research could ultimately aid in accelerating the

development of novel medicine for diseases that do not respond to

current medical treatments. One application will be the

investigation of an optimal drug cocktail to better manage disease

development, as well as mapping the molecular events that trigger

stem cells to differentiate into specific cell types.

Besides Ho, a specialist in the use of nanotechnology to analyze and

control regulatory circuitries of the cell, members of the research

team at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA include Dr. Hong

Wu, professor of molecular and medical pharmacology and a specialist

in cancer and stem cells; Dr. Teitell, associate professor

of pathology and laboratory medicine, a cancer specialist and chief

of pediatric and developmental pathology; and Dr. Genhong Cheng,

professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and an

expert in studying host defense against infectious diseases and

cancers. Hong, Teitell and Cheng also are members of UCLA's Jonsson

Comprehensive Cancer Center.

From UC Berkeley, members include Ming Wu, professor of electrical

engineering and co-director of the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator

Center, and Xiang Zhang, Chancellor's Professor in mechanical

engineering and director of the Center for Scalable and Integrated

Nano Manufacturing.

The group of investigators has developed a strong track record of

interdisciplinary research collaboration over the past decade. The

team will work with other NIH nanomedicine development centers

toward world-class advancements in nanomedical research.

" This grant puts UCLA and UC Berkeley among an elite group of

universities that are recognized as leaders in nano research, " said

UCLA engineering dean Vijay K. Dhir. " We expect this new center will

build upon UCLA Engineering's research and education capabilities

and further expand collaborative efforts with medicine to achieve

exciting advances in nanomedicine. "

Gerald S. Levey, M.D., vice chancellor of medical sciences and dean

of the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said, " UCLA is

successful not only because our faculty and staff are among the most

highly skilled in the world, but also because as a team our strength

far exceeds the sum of its parts. The Nanomedicine Center will

strengthen the collaborative ties that already exist between

researchers in engineering and medicine. Together we will continue

to push the boundaries of scientific research. "

" California's great colleges and universities have led many ground-

breaking initiatives individually, " said UC Berkeley Engineering

dean A. Newton. " But this new center illustrates the growing

importance of close collaboration among our top-notch researchers at

different UC campuses for the benefit of the state. This is very

much the kind of synergistic and forward-thinking research required

to compete effectively in a world that thrives on innovation. "

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Funding for the multidisciplinary and multi-institutional center

comes from an NIH Health Roadmap for Medical Research grant. The

goal of the five-year grant is to encourage bio-medical researchers

and engineers to build upon existing nanotechnologies to design new

technologies to understand the interaction of complex biological

systems in health and disease.

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