Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Receives NCI Grant to Advance Cancer Therapy

The National Cancer Institute has awarded a five-year, $13.6 million grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (C-CCNE) based at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, for research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer through applying/using advances in nanotechnology.

The grant will support the continued work of the center launched in 2005 as part of NCI's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer. The C-CCNE, one of eight original centers in the national program, is one of nine that are funded in the new phase.

Joseph DeSimone, PhD, who will co-lead the C-CCNE research team along with Joel Tepper, MD, said, "Our efforts in nanomedicine show tremendous promise for improving the ways we detect and treat lung, brain, and breast cancer. We have refined our ability to make nanoparticles with unprecedented control and precision, and continued work in this area will reveal better approaches to targeting cancer cells with potent therapies while leaving healthy cells intact.

DeSimone is Chancellor's Eminent Professor of Chemistry in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences. Tepper is the Hector MacLean Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research and former chair of radiation oncology.

UNC Lineberger Director, Shelley Earp, MD, is enthusiastic, "The renewal of the award is a tribute to the world-class combination of the physical, biological, and medical science possible at UNC's Cancer Center and the collaboration among the leaders and principal investigators including Otto Zhou, Leaf Huang, Russ Mumper and their colleagues."

"The synthesis of physics, chemistry, cell biology, animal models and clinical science is extraordinary," he added.

DeSimone explained, "Collaboration is fundamental to our success. Our multidisciplinary team of chemists, physicists, biologists, engineers, and clinicians drive our innovations in science. Our partners in industry are crucial to ensuring that discoveries in the lab translate efficiently and effectively to bedside for improved patient outcomes. We have a strong infrastructure of support at UNC-Chapel Hill and investment from the University Cancer Research Fund (UCRF). With new funding from NCI, we are well-positioned to move forward with the proposed work and maintain Carolina's leadership status in nanomedicine."

Tepper concurs that the new funding will allow UNC to make an impact on patient care. "Nanotechnology approaches present the opportunity to develop tools that will allow us to both diagnose patients with cancer earlier and to deliver therapy precisely to the tumor in a manner never possible with conventional approaches. The UNC CCNE grant will keep the research at UNC in the forefront of these efforts and produce improved outcomes for our patients."

In addition to nanoparticles, carbon nanotube-based X-ray technology developed at UNC by Otto Zhou, PhD, David Godschalk Distinguished Professor of Physics and Materials Science in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, and member, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a significant part of the proposed research effort and holds immense promise in the fight against cancer.

"Otto Zhou and colleagues have made exceptional strides in carbon nanotube-based X-ray technology, which shows vast potential for detecting breast cancer earlier than we ever have before and will be evaluated in clinical trials right here at Carolina." DeSimone said. "We will also continue to investigate the potential for technology developed in the Zhou lab to revolutionize treatment for brain cancer patients."

In total, this funding will help support a team of 52 faculty, postdoctoral trainees, students and staff working to find new solutions to help cancer patients in their fight against the deadly disease.

DeSimone is founder of the nano-biotechnology firm Liquidia Technologies, a collaborator in this grant effort.

Tepper is a member of the NCI Clinical and Translational Research Advisory Committee (CTAC) and the NCI Process to Accelerate Translational Science (PATS) and is Director of the UNC Specialized Program of Research Excellence in gastrointestinal cancers.

In addition to DeSimone, Tepper, and Zhou, Leaf Huang, PhD, Fred N. Eshelman Distinguished Professor and Chair, Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, and Russ Mumper, PhD, John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor, and Director, Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy are project leaders in the research effort.

Source: http://www.med.unc.edu/