Sep. 21, 2005 – The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) 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 institutions over the next five years.

All of the four selected projects, each of which will support approximately 30 students, are linked to regional cancer centers and the biomedical research community.

Grants were awarded to:

• 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. The collective goal is to prepare graduates to utilize nanoscale phenomena to create macroscopic functionality in biointerfaces, information nanotechnology, and complex functional materials. The principal investigator is Diana Huffaker.

• NanoPharmaceutical Engineering and Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. This collaboration between Rutgers, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Puerto Rico, will prepare trainees to develop nanoparticle-based biocompatible drug delivery systems. The principal investigator is Fernando Muzzio.

• Nanomedical Science and Technology, Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. This project will establish a new interdisciplinary doctoral education program in Nanomedical Science and Technology. The program aims to educate scientists to apply nanotechnology to human health, with business, ethical and global perspectives. The project will also involve investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital. The principal investigator is Srinivas Sridhar.

• 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 as 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. The principal investigator is Marjorie Olmstead.