Multidisciplinary Research Training and Team Development

Nanotechnology research is by nature an interdisciplinary endeavor. Investigators with basic science, engineering, and clinical backgrounds must work closely together in order to design new drugs and diagnostic tools that combine nanostructured materials, biological molecules, and novel instrumentation.

One of the pillars of the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer focuses on developing training programs to encourage the growth of an interdisciplinary, nanotechnology workforce and to support the research teams working on NCI-funded nanotechnology projects. The NCI has implemented innovative policies and incentives to support a team approach to scientific investigation. Learn about available training grants.

New announcements regarding ongoing training awards programs will become available in 2009. Learn more about new funding opportunities.

Recipients of the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer multidisciplinary research training and team development awards include:

Multidisciplinary Research Training and Team Development Fellowship Awards

The goal of this fellowship program is to provide research scientists with an opportunity to train outside their current fields of expertise and develop multidisciplinary skill sets that can be applied in the development and testing of nanomaterials and nanodevices in cancer-related applications of diagnosis and treatment.

Fellowship awards were granted to the following postdoctoral trainees:

• Nanoparticle-Bioconjugates as Cancer-Treating Agents, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
  Trainee: Sofi Bin-Salamon, Ph.D.
• Nanoscale Mechanisms of Hsp90 and Its Co-chaperones, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
  Trainee: Ivo P. Doudevski, Ph.D.
• Targeted Delivery Via Protein-Carbohydrate Interactions, Liquidia, Inc., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
  Trainee: Ashley L. Galloway, Ph.D.
• Liposomal Delivery of High LET Emitters to Cell Nuclei, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
  Trainee: Yah-El Har-El, Ph.D.
• Geldanamycin-Mediated Uptake of Nanoparticle Probes, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
  Trainee: Giselle M. Knudsen, Ph.D.
• Nanolabels of Active Proteases for Cancer Detection, University of California, San Francisco, California
  Trainee: Mark D. Lim, Ph.D.
• Single Walled Carbon Nanotube Based Tumor Vaccines, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, New York
  Trainee: Rena J. May, Ph.D.
• Short-Interfering RNA-Gold Nanoparticle Bioconjugates: A New Cancer Therapy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
  Trainee: Adam B. Braunschweig, Ph.D.
• Design of Affinity Capture Agents for Akt1 Using in situ Click Chemistry, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
  Trainee: Steven W. Millward, Ph.D.
• Targeted Photoactivated Nanopartcicles for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
  Trainee: Daniel Neuman, Ph.D.
• Nanoprobes and Integrated Nanodevices for Cancer Detection and Treatment, University of Colorado Health Services, Superior, CO
  Trainee: Wounjhang Park, Ph.D.

NCI-NSF Training Grants

In September 2005, the National Cancer Institute and the National Science Foundation (NSF) collaborated to establish training programs for U.S. science and engineering doctoral students through the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT).

The awarded programs were:

• Integrative Nanoscience and Microsystems, University of New Mexico
  Principal Investigator: Diana Huffaker, Ph.D.
• NanoPharmaceutical Engineering and Science, Rutgers University
  Principal Investigator: Fernando Muzzio, Ph.D.
• Building Leadership for the Nanotechnology Workforce of Tomorrow, University of Washington
  Principal Investigator: Marjorie Olmstead, Ph.D.
• Nanomedical Science and Technology, Northeastern University
  Principal Investigator: Srinivas Sridhar, Ph.D.