Through the Centre, researchers at the university will create new drugs that target cancer cells, advance technology on how nanocarriers deliver these drugs, and use imaging tools that track how they travel through the body.
‘The idea is that a lot of people are doing excellent research in the field of nanomedicine, but in 95% of the cases this research ends with a good publication,’ said Vladimir Torchilin, professor and director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine at Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences.
‘The most difficult part is the next step – if you have good results, how do you turn those results into products?’
Led by Torchilin, the new Centre’s research and development partnership includes Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre/Harvard Medical School and Auburn University. The partners will work together to develop a continuous path from basic research to industrial production of cancer nanomedicines.
Northeastern professor Mansoor Amiji has also received a five-year, US$2.32m grant as part of the Cancer Nanotechnology Platform Partnership programme.
Amiji, chair of the department of pharmaceutical sciences in Bouvé’s School of Pharmacy, will collaborate with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital to develop treatment for drug resistant forms of lung and ovarian cancer.
The researchers will use nanoparticles and gene silencing techniques to target tumours more efficiently and reverse their resistance to anti-cancer therapies. The researchers will also create a library of nanoparticles that they can screen and select from when treating various forms of cancer.
‘This is an extraordinary accomplishment for Vladimir and his team, and it is well deserved recognition of the quality of his research,’ said Stephen Zoloth, dean of Bouvé.