Prof. Zhiyong Gu, a faculty member of the Chemical Engineering Department, was recently appointed to serve as the UML liaison to the newly established UMass NanoMedicine Institute. In this capacity, Dr. Gu will coordinate and manage the collaborative effort of investigators at the UML campus for the Institute. Also, Dr. Gu is the principal director of the Gu Research Group at UML.
UMass Amherst, together with UMass Lowell and UMass Chan Medical School at Worcester, recently received a $200, 000 seed grant from the UMass President's Office to establish the UMass NanoMedicine Institute. Scientists at the Institute will collaborate to develop novel fluorescent, magnetic diagnostics, and therapeutic biosensors that will be used to understand and treat diseases.
The Office of the President Creative Economy Fund hopes that the work at the Institute will help foster and promote research activities and technology development at the interface between nanotechnology and medicine. Scientists at the Institute will engineer biomolecule-functionalized nanomaterials they will use to advance medical research.
T.J. (Lakis) Moutziaris at UMass Amherst will be the Principal Investigator, while UMass Lowell and UMass Chan Medical School will be major partners. The first part of their task would be to create fluorescent biosensors. The second part will involve the application of the sensors to the human viral system. The last charge for the Institute is to deploy novel biodegradable, nanomaterials for malaria vaccine.
The Creative Economy Fund is intended to provide seed funding to UMass initiatives which support the contributions of the arts, humanities and social sciences to the social and cultural fabric of the Commonwealth and thus to the overall strength of the economy.