POLICY NEWS

As part of a New Pathways to Discovery

project, the US National Institutes of

Health (NIH) has granted $42 million

over five years to establish four

Nanomedicine Development Centers:

the Center for Protein Folding Machinery

at Baylor College of Medicine; the

National Center for Design of

Biomimetic Nanoconductors at the

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign;

the Engineering Cellular Control:

Synthetic Signaling and Motility

Systems at the University of California,

San Francisco; and the NanoMedicine

Center for Mechanical Biology at

Columbia University in New York. The

centers form the keystone of the NIH’s

Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative.Mark Telford

Nanomedicinecenters set up GOVERNMENT FUNDING

As part of its Nanoscale Science and

Engineering Education program, the US

National Science Foundation (NSF) is

granting $20 million over five years to

a Nanoscale Informal Science Education

network – led by Boston’s Museum of

Science, San Francisco’s Exploratorium

and the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Exhibits will feature nanomaterial-based

products, atomic force microscopes for

viewing and manipulating nanoparticles,

and research stories and videos.

Sponsored forums will address social

issues, from environmental impacts to

patents restricting use of

nanomedicines in developing countries.

The NSF has also awarded four five-year

grants. Two Centers for Nanotechnology

in Society will support research and

education on social change, public

outreach, and global collaboration. The

University of California, Santa Barbara

gets $5 million to focus on the

historical context of nanotechnology;

the innovation process and global

diffusion of ideas; and risk perception

and social response. At Arizona State

University, the Consortium for Science,

Policy and Outcomes and the Biodesign

Institute get $6.2 million to map the

research dynamics of nanotechnology;

monitor the changing values of the

public and of researchers; engage both

in deliberative forums; and assess the

influence of the forums on researchers.

Building on existing Nanoscale

Interdisciplinary Research Team awards,

a University of South Carolina project

gets $1.4 million to examine the role

of images in communicating

nanotechnology, and how this is

changing research practices; a Harvard

University NanoConnection to Society

project gets $1.7 million to expand a

NanoBank database of researchers,

organizations, patents, and firms with a

NanoEthicsBank and NanoEnvironBank,

creating a NanoIndicator series.Mark Telford

Museums toinform public PUBLIC OUTREACH

Cancer centers founded GOVERNMENT FUNDING

As part of its five-year Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer,the US National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute(NCI) has granted $26.3 million in first-year awards to establishseven Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNEs). The Carolina CCNE, at the University of North Carolina, willfabricate ‘smart’ or targeted nanoparticles and othernanodevices for cancer therapy and imaging. The Center of Nanotechnology for Treatment, Understanding, andMonitoring of Cancer, at the University of California, San Diego,will focus on a smart, multifunctional, all-in-one platform fortargeting tumors and delivering payloads of therapeutics. The Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalizedand Predictive Oncology will develop nanoparticles attached tobiomolecules for molecular imaging and profiling. The MIT-Harvard CCNE will focus on nanoplatforms for targetedtherapy, diagnostics, noninvasive imaging, and molecular sensing.Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics atNorthwestern University will design and test nanomaterials anddevices for cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. The Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center at California Instituteof Technology will develop and validate tools for early detectionand stratification of cancer through rapid and quantitativemeasurement of panels of serum and tissue-based biomarkers. The Siteman CCNE at Washington University will developnanoparticles for in vivo imaging and drug delivery, especially fortranslational medicine. • The NCI and the National Science Foundation have awarded$12.8 million over five years to fund science and engineeringdoctoral students in four interdisciplinary programs: IntegrativeNanoscience and Microsystems at the University of New Mexico;NanoPharmaceutical Engineering and Science at RutgersUniversity; Nanomedical Science and Technology at NortheasternUniversity; and Building Leadership for the NanotechnologyWorkforce of Tomorrow at the University of Washington. Mark Telford

Platform for cancer partnershipsGOVERNMENT FUNDING

The US National Cancer Institute has allocated $35 million over fiveyears to set up 12 Cancer Nanotechnology Platform Partnerships todevelop technologies for new products in six areas: molecular imagingand early detection; in vivo imaging; real-time assessment of treatment;multifunctional therapeutics; prevention and control; and opening newpathways for research. The partnerships will be based atNortheastern University, the University of Michigan, VirginiaCommonwealth University, the University of California, San Francisco,Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Missouri, theUniversity of Texas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, RoswellPark Cancer Institute, the State University of New York, Sidney KimmelCancer Center, and the University of Washington. Mark Telford

December 2005 19

NSF foundsmore MRSECs GOVERNMENT FUNDING

The US National Science Foundation

has granted $14 million over six years

to create two new Materials Research

Science and Engineering Centers

(MRSECs), joining the existing 27.

The Genetically Engineered Materials

Science and Engineering Center at the

University of Washington will

investigate new protein-based

molecular building blocks for the

assembly of nanostructured hybrid

materials with novel photonic,

electronic, or chemical properties.

The Center for Research on Interface

Structure and Phenomena at Yale

University, in partnership with

Brookhaven National Laboratory and

Southern Connecticut State University,

will investigate the properties of

complex oxides for magnetic storage,

spintronics, and chemical sensing.

Renewed support is possible through

competitive review in the fifth year. Mark Telford