Nanomedicine pioneer Mauro Ferrari at ETH Zurich
Post# of 22456
Every year, the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) awards the Aurel Stodola Medal to an outstanding scientist in the discipline. Mauro Ferrari, who researches and teaches in the field of nanomedicine at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas , is honoured this year. He will speak about his research on April 1 at ETH Zurich.
Today, the busy researcher works, inter alia, as President and CEO of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, overseeing more than 1,500 personnel and 800 clinical trials.
Nanotechnology headed to the hospital
Equipped with basic medical knowledge, Ferrari established a new field of research in which he could combine his breadth of expertise: fluid mechanics with biomedical nano and microtechnology. Nanotechnology can be used in three medical areas: diagnostics, drug delivery and personalised medicine.
Several of Ferrari's new technologies have already found their way into hospitals; for example, ‘nano-traps' that filter peptides and proteins from the blood stream. As a result, diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and co-infections can be detected early in children. Diagnostic tools for the detection of different stages of cancer and iron metabolism disorders are also based on this technology.
In addition, Ferrari has developed multi-stage vectors (MSV), essentially multifunctional particle systems that are injected into the blood stream. MSVs accumulate in the target structure, such as cancer cells or tumours, where an active agent can be delivered directly, increasing the effectiveness and minimising the side-effects on healthy cells. MSVs have already been used against metastases in animal models and should soon enter clinical trials.
In his speech, he will discuss the possibilities offered by nanotechnology in the area of personalised medicine. He will present approaches of how multi-stage vectors made from nanoporous-silicon could one day be used, inter alia, in cancer medicine.
http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=51209
.....medical applications seem to be ramping up