Home > Press > Nanomaterials, nanomedicine lab dedicated at UNM, with help from Sandia
Abstract:
It wasn't exactly the grand opening of a research megacenter, but the dedication Aug. 23 of the third floor of the University of New Mexico's Centennial Engineering Center for a lab combining nanotechnology and nanomedicine offered a start-up charm of its own. Maybe Los Alamos National Laboratory in its early days was something like this.
Nanomaterials, nanomedicine lab dedicated at UNM, with help from Sandia
Albuquerque, NM | Posted on September 14th, 2011
Clustered in a hallway on a floor of green tiles, with lights, pipes and vents visible overhead, about 50 informally dressed students and sports-jacketed faculty looked on as Sandia fellow and UNM professor Jeff Brinker, UNM School of Engineering dean Catalin Roman, UNM Cancer Center director Cheryl Willman and other administrators explained to three New Mexico state representatives, sitting in an adjacent bubble-like room, why the $2 million the state had contributed to the new facility was a good idea.
Brinker, who spearheaded the drive to create the 5,000-square-foot lab, spoke first: "I used to be content in making materials, but as my wife used to say: ‘Have you saved anyone's life today? What have you really done?'"
Prominently displayed on the wall was work led by Brinker, published in the most highly respected science journals. Most prominent was a paper detailing the creation by the Brinker group of pore-riddled nanospheres they termed ‘protocells,' capable of encapsulating and delivering unusually large amounts of cancer-destroying chemicals directly to a cancerous cell.
The protocell work, said Willman, has led to numerous calls from drug companies near Boston and in San Diego, "but we prefer to start a company in New Mexico to bring these achievement to market."
She pointed out to the legislators that, because of the Cancer Center's joint work with Brinker and Sandia, UNM is a member with three other institutions — Harvard University, the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — of the National Cancer Institute's Nanotechnology Alliance, which has brought millions of federal dollars into New Mexico. The nanobio-nanomedicine lab should help produce more medical breakthroughs from New Mexico, she said.
The lab contains areas to continue work on cancers and low-level pathogens, and to create and analyze new nanomaterials. "For commercial purposes, we have to demonstrate good manufacturing practices that show dosage control, purity, reproducibility and other factors in our protocells," said UNM post-doctoral student Carlee Ashley, who led development of the nanoscale medicine transporters as part of her doctoral project under Brinker's tutelage. "And we have to demonstrate removal of toxins that can contaminate our work, before applying to the [Food and Drug Administration] for human trials."
####
About Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated and managed by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Neal Singer
( 505 ) 845-7078
Copyright © Sandia National Laboratories
If you have a comment, please
Contact us.
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
News and information
Aspen Aerogels Announces $22.5 Million Private Placement May 18th, 2013
NanoInk, Inc. Assets To Be Sold May 18th, 2013
Beautiful "flowers" self-assemble in a beaker: Elaborate nanostructures blossom from a chemical reaction perfected at Harvard May 17th, 2013
Scientists capture first direct proof of Hofstadter butterfly effect May 17th, 2013
Add boron for better batteries: Rice University theorists say graphene-boron mix shows promise for lithium-ion batteries May 17th, 2013
Laboratories
Artificial Forest for Solar Water-Splitting: Berkeley Lab Researchers Report First Fully Integrated Artificial Photosynthesis Nanosystem May 17th, 2013
DNA-Guided Assembly Yields Novel Ribbon-Like Nanostructures: Approach could be useful in fabricating new kinds of materials with engineered properties May 16th, 2013
Openings/New facilities/Groundbreaking/Expansion
American Graphite Technologies Inc. Announces New Manufacturing Facility for CTI Nanotechnologies LLC April 29th, 2013
Nanosponges soak up toxins released by bacterial infections and venom April 15th, 2013
Nanotechnology Industries Association launches new Website April 12th, 2013
Doors Open at New Interdisciplinary Science Building for Energy Research at Brookhaven Lab: New world-class research facility will host research on breakthrough solutions to the nation's energy challenges April 11th, 2013
Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy
Beautiful "flowers" self-assemble in a beaker: Elaborate nanostructures blossom from a chemical reaction perfected at Harvard May 17th, 2013
Artificial Forest for Solar Water-Splitting: Berkeley Lab Researchers Report First Fully Integrated Artificial Photosynthesis Nanosystem May 17th, 2013
Moth-Inspired Nanostructures Take the Color Out of Thin Films May 17th, 2013
NIA Public Briefing: Nanotechnology and the Council of Europe May 17th, 2013
Nanomedicine
Nanotechnology could help fight diabetes: Injectable nanogel can monitor blood-sugar levels and secrete insulin when needed May 16th, 2013
Nanobiotix Revenue for the 1st quarter of 2013 May 15th, 2013
Pitt Chemists Demonstrate Nanoscale Alloys So Bright They Could Have Potential Medical Applications: “Think about a particle that will not only help researchers detect cancer sooner but be used to treat the tumor, too.” May 15th, 2013
Using clay to grow bone: Researchers use synthetic silicate to stimulate stem cells into bone cells May 15th, 2013
Materials
Advancements and developments of solid-state nanopores sensors May 16th, 2013
Physicists discover a new kind of friction: Friction in the nano-world May 16th, 2013
Squishy hydrogels may be the ticket for studying biological effects of nanoparticles May 15th, 2013
Pitt Chemists Demonstrate Nanoscale Alloys So Bright They Could Have Potential Medical Applications: “Think about a particle that will not only help researchers detect cancer sooner but be used to treat the tumor, too.” May 15th, 2013
Announcements
Aspen Aerogels Announces $22.5 Million Private Placement May 18th, 2013
NanoInk, Inc. Assets To Be Sold May 18th, 2013
NIA Public Briefing: Nanotechnology and the Council of Europe May 17th, 2013
Scientists capture first direct proof of Hofstadter butterfly effect May 17th, 2013