Dean Ho Receives Grant for Cancer Research

December 17, 2007

Dean Ho, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, recently received a grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

The grants, which fund young investigators as they initiate their research, were awarded to fifteen researchers across the country. One investigator was invited to apply from each National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and prominent university involved in critical cancer research throughout the United States.

Each V Scholar is selected through a competitive process by The V Foundation’s Scientific Review Committee, and each recipient received a $100,000, two-year grant.

The award will fund Dean Ho’s research on the use of nanodiamonds in delivering chemotherapy to patients.

Nanodiamonds have a carbon structure similar to that of diamonds we normally see on jewelry, but they are much smaller; with a diameter of two to eight nanometers, hundreds of thousands of these nanodiamonds could fit onto the head of a pin.

In a recent publication in the journal NanoLetters, Ho and his research team aggregated clusters of 50 to 100 nanodiamonds and then loaded the chemotherapy drug on the surface. The drug remains inactive until the cluster reaches its target and breaks apart – then the cluster slowly releases the drug.

Researchers say that the clusters are ideal for carrying chemotherapy because it shields the drug from normal cells and doesn’t cause inflammation — a problem with materials currently used to deliver drugs. That can predispose a patient to cancer, block the effectiveness of drugs and even promote tumor growth.

After the research was published it received nationwide media attention from more than 100 outlets, including CNN and United Press International.

“This year we had more outstanding applicants than ever before,” said Robert C. Bast, Jr., M.D., Vice President for Translational Research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and a member of the Scientific Review Committee. “We had 47 proposals and funded 15 grants. For the last several years our selection process has become increasingly more difficult as we receive a higher number of quality applicants. Obviously we would love to fund them all, but our goal is to continue to fund the best and the brightest researchers on the cutting edge of finding a cure.”

The V Foundation for Cancer Research was founded in 1993 by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano, the North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN commentator. Since 1993, the foundation has raised more than $70 million to fund cancer research grants nationwide.

-- Emily Ayshford

www.jimmyv.org