NANOTECH INNOVATIONS

Mauro Ferrari is on a mission tomake Houston a major hubfor nanomedicine. Housedat the University of TexasHealth Science Center, Ferrari’s lab willbecome the Department of Nanomedicineand Biomedical Engineering in September.According to Ferrari, it will be the firstnanomedicine department at a US medicalschool. The nanomedicine professor, whoseteam is developing nanosized diagnosticdevices to treat cancer and cardiovasculardisease, is in an enviable position, especiallygiven the current economic climate. Ferrariplans to recruit another 30 researchers tocomplete his 100-member academic researchteam, and he has co-founded two companies.NanoMedical Systems, in Austin, Texas,is developing a nanomaterial-based drugdeliverysystem, and Leonardo Biosystemsin Houston is researching nanotechnologybasedcancer therapeutics.Houston is already well known forits prowess in the nanoscopic field. Thecity was home to the 1985 discovery ofspherical carbon-based fullerenes knownas ‘buckyballs’. That work was later awardedthe 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Yet sofar, nanotech advances have been moreincremental than monumental. This couldbe set to change as research funds start toflow, nanomedicines head to clinical trialsand entrepreneurial academics aim toincorporate nanomedicine into mainstreammedical care.Governments around the world arebanking on high economic returns asthey invest in a field that aims to useatomic- or molecular-level techniques torepair damaged tissue or diagnose, treator prevent disease. Academics are forgingmultidisciplinary teams of scientists,engineers and clinicians eager to testnanosolutions to medical problems. Butthere are challenges. The field needs greaternumbers of highly trained students, and asound regulatory infrastructure.Entrepreneurial academicsHouston isn’t the only buddingnanomedicine hub. In the United Kingdom,Swansea University, with input from Ferrari,has brought together teams of clinicians,life scientists, engineers, physical scientistsand industry professionals. The universitywill break ground this summer on its£21.6-million (US$35-million) Centre forNanoHealth, which will be the cornerstoneof a plan to grow its schools of medicine andengineering. The building is slated to open in2010, and Swansea University administratorsare searching for researchers eager to crossdisciplinary boundaries. Over the next year,they will begin to fill 12 core research posts,including the centre manager, academicposts and clinicians to support the centre’smission.The key to successfulgrowth of a nanomedicinehub, say the organizers, isforging industry partnerships.One of Swansea University’sspin-off companies —Haemair, also based inSwansea — has developed ablood oxygenating system to help patients.