Nanobiosym®, a global nanotechnology firm, today announced that its Chairman and CEO, Dr. Anita Goel, M.D., Ph.D, has been awarded the top prize in the Galactic Grant Competition to fund the Nanobiosym Research Institute to push the frontier of nanobiophysics and the Gene-RADAR® technology on the International Space Station (ISS), U.S. National Laboratory.
Uniquely trained as both a physicist and medical doctor at Stanford, Harvard, and MIT, Dr. Goel has, over the past 20 years, pioneered and established through her Nanobiosym Research Institute, a new science at the convergence of Physics, Biomedicine, Nanotechnology and Information Communications Technology. From this science Dr. Goel has developed a commercial product called Gene-RADAR®, a mobile tricorder-like device that enables gold standard real-time diagnosis of any disease with a genetic fingerprint. Gene-RADAR® recently won the prestigious XPRIZE - an international competition that recognizes breakthrough technologies that benefit humanity on an exponential scale.
“I am delighted to accept this award and launch this pivotal partnership between Nanobiosym and the ISS to develop new ‘apps’ for our Gene-RADAR® technology,” said Dr. Goel. “The microgravity environment on the ISS makes biological organisms mutate faster. Gene- RADAR® on the ISS will help us better predict how deadly pathogens here on Earth can mutate to become drug-resistant superbugs, such as MRSA. Our ability to anticipate drug-resistant mutations with Gene-RADAR® will lead to next generation antibiotics that are more precisely tailored to stop the spread of the world’s most dangerous pathogens. We will leverage our research on the ISS to accelerate the Precision Medicine revolution here on Earth.”
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker joined leaders from NASA, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) to present the Galactic Grant award to Dr. Goel, Tuesday, July 7, 2015 as part of the ISS Research & Development Conference taking place in Boston this week.
“Collaboration is one of our greatest strengths in Massachusetts, and through this first-ever collaboration between CASIS and the MLSC local companies have had the unique opportunity to compete for funds to support innovative life sciences experiments on the International Space Station,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Congratulations to the winners of this competition, and I look forward to seeing the results of this important research.”
Dr. Goel is also a featured speaker at this conference alongside other innovators who are pushing the frontier of Space Research to improve life on Earth such as SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, other premier scientists, and three active NASA astronauts.
According to global experts, drug-resistant infections, if they are not tackled could kill an extra 10 million people every year by 2050 and cost the global economy at least $100 trillion in lost output.