U.S. National Institutes of Health officials have announced completion of a national network of eight nanomedicine development centers.
The centers are located at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta; Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.; the University of California-Los Angeles, UC-San Francisco and UC-Berkeley; Baylor College of Medicine in Houston; the University of Illinois-Champaign and Columbia University-Morningside
They are staffed by multidisciplinary scientific teams, including biologists, physicians, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists.
The Nanomedicine Initiative applies an engineering approach to the study of cellular and subcellular systems in an effort not only to understand, but to precisely control, molecular complexes that operate at the nanoscale, institute officials said. This will allow for development of technologies to prevent or cure disease and repair damaged tissue.
"Future progress in medicine will depend on our understanding and modulating the complexity of biological systems," said Dr. Paul Sieving, director of The National Eye Institute and a co-leader of the project. "The ... Nanomedicine Initiative will advance our knowledge of biological systems. This will provide the scientific foundation for new strategies for diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease."
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
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