Division of NanoMedicine

The Division of NanoMedicine of the Center for Health and Disease Research performs research in the area of NanoMedicine, which includes self-assembly of polymer-based nanospheres, oil/water/surfactant Microfluidizor processor and self-assembly nanoemulsions for the delivery of pharmaceuticals such as but not limited to the anticancer agents Tamoxifen, Dacarbazine and 5 Fluoruracil, anti-inflammatory agents such as Celebrex, naproxen and aspirin, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer nutraceuticals such as but not limited to Curcumin, Quercetin, Tocopherol, and Lutein, cosmeceuticals such as but not limited toBoTox, hormones such as but not limited to insulin, genes such as but not limited to siRNA. and cholesterol-lowering products such as statins, and plant sterols and HDL raising products such as Niacin. In addition to the encapsulation of such compounds, the lab characterizes the particle size, composition, viscosity and zeta-potential and analyzes biological efficacy at the cellular level (cell proliferation inhibition and  apoptosis assays), molecular biology level (microarray expression) and in vivo animal studies involving xenograft mouse models of cancer and hamster models of dyslipidemia, early atherosclerosis and combined hyperlipidemia/hyperglycemia.

The Division of NanoMedicine in the last three years have nine manuscripts either published, in press or submitted, attracted @ $500,000 in funding from external (Federal – NCI and Army Natick Labs  and Industry) and internal sources (President’s Science and Technology Initiative), six patent submissions with one recently awarded, two licensing agreements and two spin-off companies.

It also supports ten doctoral students in the Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology Ph.D program.