Drexel receives nanotech funds

By: Nathan Fried

Posted: 7/3/09

Nanotechnology promises to create advances in fields ranging from health care to consumer products, introducing applications that could help locate target, and destroy cancer cells as well as ridding contaminants from the environment.

This past month, the Nanotechnology Institute announced a total of $2 million to be awarded to 30 scientists from five different universities and institutions within the Philadelphia region for research focused on advancing the field.

Of the total amount awarded, Drexel researchers received more than $1 million for projects ranging from tissue engineering to Radio Frequency Identification enhancements. Receiving over half the funds provided by the NTI, Drexel acts as a nanotech leader.

"They know who are the key players, their reputation. We have a lot of very strong research going on at Drexel in the nano-field. We have over 45 faculty who are doing nano-related research and our past success rate speaks for itself," Shirin Karsan, industry liaison for the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, said.

The NTI's main initiative for supplying the funding greatly focuses on a coordinated effort to produce actual applications and intellectual property for the world to use.

"Where there is more collaboration is where they would want to give the funds. Rather than giving it to an independent entity, they want to see collaborations, which in turn maximizes the likelihood of research developing into a reliable technology," Karsan said.

Amongst the Drexel recipients, Wan Shih, associate professor at the School of Biomedical Engineering, received the largest award. In her lab, they are making devices for diagnostic applications.

Her research focuses on a new device to detect antibodies produced by the immune system of breast cancer patients. This is an important step involved in antibody therapy which is an avenue of cancer treatment that focuses on stimulating the patient's own immune system to target and attack tumors.

This new device goes beyond standard lab techniques such as ELISAs and Western Blots which are not sensitive enough to detect some antibodies, or proteins, in blood samples of patients.

"[ELISAs and Western Blots] have a sensitivity around the sub-nanogram/ml. With that kind of sensitivity we can't see if patients have generated their own immune system response," Shih said.

Even further complications arise when trying to analyze blood samples due to the vast amount of protein within blood. Trying to find a low level of a single antibody would be just as difficult as trying to find a single grain of salt in a bowl of flour.

"Even with all that background, we were able to detect [our protein of interest] in as low as a 5 picogram/ml concentration, one-thousandths of a nanogram. This is very tiny," Shih said.

This new technology utilizes a particular material with piezoelectric properties. When this material is flattened into a 1 micron thick translucent film, any pressure that is applied to it will cause it to emit an electrical signal. Even the slightest pressure will emit a measurable signal. When placed into a blood sample, it is possible to measure how much of a certain protein binds to the material making it an easy, quick, and incredibly sensitive method to detect levels of any protein.

"This will be a very great lab tool. The technology we have is much much more sensitive than [current detection methods] and a lot cheaper," Shih said.

It is this type of technology that has drawn funding to Drexel. However, interest in nanotechnology is nothing new to Drexel. In fact, the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, founded in 2003, has been working toward coordinating interdisciplinary research, education, and the development of strategic collaborations between nanotech researchers at Drexel and those within industry.

"We are trying to reach out and create more of a research and tech transfer, and to roll out new technologies into the market place," Karsan said.

Just this past month, the DNI co-hosted the first ever PA Regional Nanotechnology Conference, bringing together companies and research institutes across the area to discuss issues impacting businesses involved with nanotechnology.

Similar to the DNI, the NTI focuses on helping to transfer intellectual knowledge and nanotechnology related discoveries in hopes of stimulating economic growth through the commercialization of nanotechnology. NTI is valued at $16.3 million. Since its inception, NTI has led to 357 intellectual property assets, 17 technology licenses, worked with 13 young companies, and attracted more than $180 million in public and private investment to the region.

"It's a matter of government, academia, and industry that all connect to each other and work together," Karsan said.