By Jeff Karoub
Small Times Staff Writer
July 24, 2001 — Although cancer-fighting nanosensors remain at least two decades away, no one should dismiss the role of small technology on the road to that and other medical breakthroughs, a leading health official said Monday on Capitol Hill.
Carol Dahl, director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Technology and Industrial Relations, spoke to about 70 congressional aides, health agency officials and others who attended “The Promise of Nanotechnology: The Coming Revolution in Medicine,” a briefing presented by the nonprofit National Health Council.
“Basically, nanotechnology is yet another enabling tool,” said Dahl, who was one of the featured speakers at the latest in a series of briefings by the council related to the frontiers of health care.
“Not only are these going to be important clinical tools, but also important discovery tools.
“We can’t possibly know the best strategy (now), but these tools are enabling the discovery process.”
To that end, Dahl said her institute tackles small tech research and development on several fronts, including the Unconventional Innovations Program, which focuses on linking nanotechnology and imaging. The goal is to see cancer at an earlier stage by scanning the body before symptoms.
Program officials are working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to develop the nanosensors, which also could keep astronauts healthy on a three-year mission to Mars in the coming decades.
“These reductions in scale are enabling, and help in terms of reducing cost,” she said. “They represent new functionalities that might not be there without going to those scales.”
Chris Paladino, a spokesman for the National Health Council, said the series is set up as a learning opportunity for Hill staffers and council members, which include health care companies and agencies, such as the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association.
Dahl also will speak on small tech’s role in the fight against cancer at Small Times Media’s first conference and trade show Sept. 18-21 in Washington, D.C. The event, Small Tech 2001: The Microsystems Advantage, will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
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CONTACT THE AUTHOR:
Jeff Karoub at [email protected] or call 734-528-6291.