Nanodelivery: Materializing the Potential of Cancer Molecular Medicine
	Esther H. Chang Professor of Oncology and Otolaryngology Georgetown University Medical Center, USA

Dr. Esther Chang serves as Basic Science co-Leader of MTDT. Her research efforts focus primarily on the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and in translating this basic information into new clinical modalities. Specifically, Dr. Chang is interested in the genetic basis of cancer and mainly focuses on tumor suppressor genes p53 and Rb and oncogenes HER-2, ras and raf. More recently, her research is directed toward improving conventional cancer therapies by combining them with systemic, tumor-targeted gene therapies to down modulate the expression of oncogenes or restore the function of tumor suppressor genes. Both strategies are rooted deeply in the principles of induction or enhancement of apoptosis caused by a conventional cancer therapy. These innovative therapeutic approaches involve delivery of the molecular therapeutics via vectors that not only home to the primary tumor, but also to the metastases. Through the NCI Decision network, the NCI’s Rapid Access to Intervention Development (RAID), NIDCR RO1, and NCI STTR I and II grant mechanism, this new therapeutic modality is now being evaluated for use in human clinical trials. Dr. Chang’s research contributions are evident in her more than 120 publications and her 20-year history of continuous peer-reviewed grant support. Two of her seminal papers were in the top 100 and one in the top 10 most-cited publications in biomedical sciences in their respective years of publication.

Speaking in the special symposium on Nanotechnology for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment - CancerNano 2006.

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