Central Michigan University

CMU-RC consortium addresses nanotechnologies as building block for medical breakthroughs

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Topics in this story: Science, Science and technology

Donald Tomalia, president of Dendritic Nanotechnologies Inc., speaks to an audience of national experts at the Nanotech Workshop held at CMU's Center for Applied Research and Technology.

Photo by Robert Barclay
CMU Public Relations and Marketing

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Media Contact(s):

Kristi DePaul Ries
989-774-1072

Program Contact(s):

Donald Tomalia
989-774-3096

Central Michigan University Research Corp. welcomed experts from across North America to Mount Pleasant last week for a strategic workshop to direct the future of nanotechnology research. The National Science Foundation sponsored the consortium that could lead to advanced technology efforts in facilitating epic medical breakthroughs.

Researchers believe that nanotechnology could one day eradicate HIV as well as other autoimmune deficiency disorders and longstanding diseases such as cancer.

Compounds referred to as 'nano building blocks' can be created on a level just above that of the atom by determining how nano-scale proteins and dendrimers react to one another. Cataloging reactionary patterns of these micro-level elements means that researchers can manipulate such compounds to combat disease.

Donald Tomalia, chief scientific officer of Dendritic Nanotechnologies Inc. organized the consortium, which was the first of its kind to be held at CMU. The list of participants and presenters, which included sixty of the top nanotechnology thinkers from the U.S. and Canada, read like a "Who's Who" of nanotechnology scientists.

With Tomalia at the helm, Dendritic Nanotechnologies Inc. is in the process of getting approval to use a dendrimer-based compound to treat HIV patients in Africa and the U.S. DNT, a subsidiary of Starpharma Holdings Ltd., anticipates FDA approval of the drug by 2010.

The meeting's purpose was to inspire and advance the idea of a nanotechnology "periodic table" in addition to determining directions for future research by the NSF. The U.S. Congress funded the NSF's first cycle of the National Nanotechnology Initiative from 2005 to 2008 for approximately $3.7 billion.

"One of the objectives of this workshop was to come up with a large enough vision to propose to the scientific community that would warrant a similar or greater investment for the next funding cycle," said Tomalia. "Nanotechnology has an enormous potential to become the next NASA for the U.S. government in terms of impacting citizens' lives through groundbreaking research and development."

Tomalia will present a report to the NSF by the end of this year, outlining new research possibilities that will then be presented by the NSF to the U.S. Congress in the hopes of obtaining further financial backing.

Power players of the U.S. nanotechnology movement who participated in the conference included: Mihail Roco, senior advisor for nanotechnology at NSF and key architect of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, Washington, D.C.; Piotr Grodzinski, director of nanotechnology for cancer programs, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.; and Scott McNeil, director, nanotechnology characterization laboratory, Frederick, Md.

The workshop also boasted diverse representation from large corporations within Michigan, such as the Dow Chemical Co., Dow Corning and General Motors. From the Ivy League to technological research institutions, many specialists came from the halls of academia: California Institute of Technology, Central Michigan University, Columbia University, Cornell University, McGill University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and Wayne State University.