February 23, 2009 - The Northwestern University Clinical Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute announces the recipients of the first Center for Translational Innovation (CTI) pilot grant competition. These awardees represent the kind of innovative thinking, multidisciplinary teams, and novel approaches to serious unmet medical problems that NUCATS supports.
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While more than 40,000 women will die this year from breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, the cause of their deaths are not the primary tumors but the metastasis of the tumor cells to secondary sites such as bone and lungs. Although nanotechnology is emerging as a new technology that offers minimally invasive and localized approaches for treating cancer, scientists are still far from commanding nanotechnology to treat breast cancer with specificity, efficacy, and decreased side effects. Could the use of specifically designed nanoparticles offer more efficient treatment in destroying the cancer cells while sparing the nearby normal cells? Teri Odom, associate professor of chemistry at the Weinberg College of Arts and Ming Zhang, associate professor of molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry at the Feinberg School of Medicine are collaborating on a project to answer that question. Their objective is to design and optimize nanoparticles with molecular bio-markers that can be used in the thermal removal of primary breast cancer cells as well as the metastic tumor cells at distant sites. They hope to prove that particles designed with enhanced localized heating capabilities and containing antibody targets will help determine---for the first time---the optimal conditions for photothermal treatment of breast cancer. If successful, their research will produce a unique class of functional bio-nanomaterials that will revolutionize the treatment of cancer.
This pilot project is a critical expansion of work already started in Philip Messersmith’s lab at the McCormick School of Engineering, where he has examined the remarkable natural adhesive secreted by mussels and other marine organisms in a wet and harsh environment. Dr. Messersmith, professor of biomedical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science will be collaborating with Andreas Zisch, head of research in the Department of Obstetrics at the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, one of the foremost experts on fetal membrane rupture. They will determine if a synthetic polymer that mimics the adhesive properties of the mussel could be used to seal fetal membrane ruptures that result in preterm birth and associated morbidity and mortality. The substance will be synthesized and tested on human fetal membranes for its ability to create a strong, flexible, and bio-compatible bond. No material tested to date has met the criteria mainly because the tissue being treated is wet or even fully bathed in amniotic fluid, presenting an enormous challenge for most adhesives. Preliminary experiments conducted by the pair showed promise that the mussel’s protein-based adhesive that is unaffected by water can be replicated in a synthetic form. If successful, this research could offer the first means of sealing such a rupture, thus offering an alternative or adjunct to current treatment approaches.
Regaining sufficient control of hand movements after stroke is a challenge for many patients left with only minimal control of the muscles in the affected hands, wrists, and arms. Jun Yao, research assistant professor of physical therapy and human movement sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine is proposing a futuristic solution to this obstacle.
She seeks to build on previous work in the field mapping brain signals to infer patient commands, which are then relayed to an electronic device that stimulates the muscles and thus allows the patient to accurately open and close the hand. Dr. Yao has developed a new algorithm and new techniques to increase speed and accuracy over earlier attempts in the field. Since these techniques have seldom been applied to stroke survivors before, Dr. Yao will further modify them to fit the special requirements of stroke survivors. She believes the project will result in a much higher quality of life for stroke survivors.
Alice Lyon, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Feinberg School of Medicine and Robert Linsenmeier, professor of biomedical engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, are working together with collaborators at Feinberg to study the beneficial effects of using supplemental oxygen to treat retinal detachment until surgery for reattachment can take place. A truly translational project, NUCATS is funding the first clinical study to see if patients recover more visual improvement post-surgery when following this protocol. Retinal detachments typically occur spontaneously in patients, ages 40 to 60, with high myopia and lattice retinal degeneration. In this condition, the eye is larger than normal and the thin retina can tear. When the retina detaches, the photoreceptors do not have the oxygen they need for survival. Early animal studies in Dr. Linsenmeier's lab showed the positive effect of oxygen supplementation and have led to the hypothesis that similar benefits will prove true in humans. This addition to the existing procedures for the care of macula off retinal detachment could restore vision to the patient’s predetachment level and transform treatment.
The next Request for Applications for the CTI Pilot program will be released in March 2009 at NUCATS’ web page devoted to tracking biomedical pilot competitions at Northwestern and its clinical affiliates, http://www.nucats.northwestern.edu/pilots/index.html.
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