Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center (NSBCC)
California Institute of Technology CCNE

• Center Home
• Overview
• Projects
• Cores
• Investigators

Center Investigators

James Heath, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

[+] More Investigators

The NSBCC is organized to take advantage of the state-of-the-art in the chemistry, materials, and physics of nanotechnology science and engineering (Caltech and Fluidigm); the state-of-the-art in the systems biology approach to health and disease (ISB); and the state-of-the-art in the science, technology, and clinical applications of cancer biology (UCLA Geffen School of Medicine and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center).

The concept behind the NSBCC is that the measurement and analysis needs of systems approaches to cancer, ranging from cancer biology to clinical oncology, should drive the nature and direction of the advances in nanotechnology science and engineering. We are building a community of cancer scientists/clinicians, technologists, and biologist through the execution of six Projects and the associated development of Core facilities. The Projects are aimed at developing and validating tools for the early detection and stratification of cancer through rapid and quantitative measurements of panels of serum and tissue-based biomarkers; the evaluation of the efficacy of molecular therapeutics for cancer based upon the rapid evaluation of small tissue and serum samples, for panels of protein- and gene-based biomarkers; the evaluation of immunotherapy of cancer by the detection and proteomic/genomic analysis of rare circulating cells; and, the ultra-rapid preparation of cancer molecular imaging probes through the combination of a remarkable chemical technology (click chemistry) and chip-based technology-labeled chemical reaction circuits. Finally, the development of the high-throughput manufacturing of these nanotechnology tools for cancer is proposed.

The major cancers that are targeted are glioblastoma, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer, and technology development pathways from the cancer research laboratory to the clinic are described. Partnerships with three NCI-funded SPOREs and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, in addition to several other NCI-funded programs, are described.

These Projects are designed for the development of biomarker panels and technologies that can enable the early detection of cancer (and hence their cures by conventional therapies), the stratification of cancers, the ability to follow cancer progression, the ability to stratify patients as responders or non-responders to therapy, and the ability to monitor in vivo cancer biology and therapeutic responses. These Projects are also building an oncology community that is receptive to co-developing and taking advantage of state-of-the-art technologies that can provide enabling weapons for fighting the war on cancer.