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Nanotechnology for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis Treatment Committee
Committee Chair
Annual Symposium Sponsors
Welcome
NSTI is proud to collaborate with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in presenting a Special
Symposium on Nanotechnology for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis and
Treatment.
Towards the end of eliminating suffering and death from cancer, the
National Cancer Institute is engaged in efforts to harness the power of
nanotechnology to radically change the way we diagnose, image and treat
cancer. The NCI-NSTI Nanotechnology for Cancer Special Symposium will
run in parallel with the Nanotech 2006 and the BioNano 2006 providing a
unique multidisciplinary environment directed towards addressing the
challenges of cancer research and treatment.
Annual Symposium Synopsys
Nanotechnology has the potential to have a revolutionary impact on
cancer diagnosis and therapy. It is universally accepted that early
detection of cancer is essential even before anatomic anomalies are
visible. A major challenge in cancer diagnosis in the 21st century is to
be able to determine the exact relationship between cancer biomarkers
and the clinical pathology, as well as, to be able to non-invasively
detect tumors at an early stage for maximum therapeutic benefit. For
breast cancer, for instance, the goal of molecular imaging is to be able
to accurately diagnose when the tumor mass has approximately 100-1000
cells, as opposed to the current techniques like mammography, which
require more than a million cells for accurate clinical diagnosis.
In cancer therapy, targeting and localized delivery are the key
challenges. To wage an effective war against cancer, we have to have the
ability to selectively attack the cancer cells, while saving the normal
tissue from excessive burdens of drug toxicity. However, because many
anticancer drugs are designed to simply kill cancer cells, often in a
semi-specific fashion, the distribution of anticancer drugs in healthy
organs or tissues is especially undesirable due to the potential for
severe side effects. Consequently, systemic application of these drugs
often causes severe side effects in other tissues (e.g. bone marrow
suppression, cardiomyopathy, neurotoxicity), which greatly limits the
maximal allowable dose of the drug. In addition, rapid elimination and
widespread distribution into non-targeted organs and tissues requires
the administration of a drug in large quantities, which is often not
economical and sometimes complicated due to non-specific toxicity. This
vicious cycle of large doses and the concurrent toxicity is a major
limitation of current cancer therapy. In many instances, it has been
observed that the patient succumbs to the ill effects of the drug
toxicity far earlier than the tumor burden.
This symposium will address the potential ways in which nanotechnology
can address these challenges. Distinguished speakers will summarize the
current state of the art and future barriers. Contributions are also
solicited in the following topics.
Topics & Application Areas
- Science and technologies for cancer diagnostic and imaging techniques using nanoparticles as reporter platforms and contrast enhancing agents;
- Bionalaytical nanotechnology for detection of biomarkers
- Nanoparticle platforms polymeric nanoparticles, lipid nanoparticles, metal nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, and self-assembling nanosystems;
- Synthetic chemistry required to design and optimize new strategies for nanoparticle preparation and functionalization;
- Therapeutic targeted and intra-cellular drug and gene delivery using nanocarriers;
- Nanoparticles for delivery of electromagnetic energy for hyperthermia and thermal ablation of tumors;
- Theoretical modeling of nanoparticle processes in biological and medical environments, and of drug and gene delivery;
- Combination therapies (drug and energy delivery) using nanoparticles
- Clinical diagnosis and therapy of prostate, breast, and liver cancer.
Submit Proposal or Comment to Committee Chair
We encourage you to participate and to submit your interest as either an
Scientific Committee Member or to organize a Scientific Committee*. The
NSTI will provide the infrastructure for each Industrial Committee to
organize and present a focused Symposium at the annual Nanotech
Conference and Trade Show (Nanotech 2008,
Boston, Massachusetts, June 1-5, 2008). Details will be provide upon approval of
proposal.
* All submissions will be reviewed by the NSTI Scientific Committee
Chairs and a timely response will be issued.
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