{"632590":{"#nid":"632590","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Genetics and Cancer: Research Offers New Insights On Risks, Onset, Progression","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.oncotarget.com\/index.php?journal=oncotarget\u0026amp;page=article\u0026amp;op=view\u0026amp;path[]=27468\u0026amp;path[]=89629\u0022\u003Estudy\u003C\/a\u003E by researchers in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E raises new questions about a decades-old, award-winning theory regarding how many genetic mutations are necessary for cancer to develop in human cells.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat theory, called the Knudson Hypothesis, argued that two mutations in the type of genes that suppress tumors are needed to lead to changes that could cause cancer. However, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/john-mcdonald\u0022\u003EJohn McDonald\u003C\/a\u003E, a School of Biological Sciences professor and the director of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icrc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EIntegrated Cancer Research Center\u003C\/a\u003E, says the research, published in \u003Cem\u003EOncotarget\u003C\/em\u003E, \u0026ldquo;shows, for the first time, that nearly all normal healthy individuals carry at least one potentially cancer-causing tumor suppressor gene mutation. The implication is that a majority of the human population is, to a greater or lesser extent, predisposed to develop cancer.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMcDonald and his fellow researchers \u0026mdash;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/evan-clayton\u0022\u003E Evan A. Clayton\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bioinformatics.gatech.edu\/people\/Shareef-Khalid\u0022\u003EShareef Khalid\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bioinformatics.gatech.edu\/people\/Dongjo-Ban\u0022\u003EDongjo Ban\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bioinformatics.gatech.edu\/people\/Lu-Wang\u0022\u003ELu Wang\u003C\/a\u003E and Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/king-jordan\u0022\u003EI. King Jordan\u003C\/a\u003E, all of Georgia Tech \u0026mdash; relied on several databases, including the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cancer.sanger.ac.uk\/cosmic\u0022\u003ECatalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC)\u003C\/a\u003E, the world\u0026rsquo;s largest database of mutations associated with cancer onset and progression. The scientists combined that database with the\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.internationalgenome.org\/\u0022\u003E One Thousand Genomes Project (1KGP)\u003C\/a\u003E, which lists genetic variants present, in 2,504 normal, healthy individuals. That list reflects the diversity of racial and ethnic groups randomly selected from 26 human populations around the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Knudson Hypothesis, developed in 1971 by Alfred Knudson, helped physicians identify cancer-related genes, and won Knudson the prestigious \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.laskerfoundation.org\/awards\/\u0022\u003EAlbert Lasker Award\u003C\/a\u003E in Clinical Medical Research in 1998.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Inconsistent with the Knudson two-hit hypothesis, we present evidence that acquisition of a second cancer-causing tumor suppressor mutation is not necessary to drive cancer onset\/progression. Rather, we present evidence that, in many cases, individuals with only a single cancer-causing tumor suppressor mutation develop cancer,\u0026rdquo; McDonald says. \u0026ldquo;In these individuals, we show that the mutant gene is significantly overexpressed relative to the normal gene, thus overriding the influence of the non-mutated gene and driving cancer onset and development. Thus, in many individuals, a change in gene expression, rather than a \u0026lsquo;second mutational hit,\u0026rsquo; is responsible for the cancer.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAll humans have two copies of every gene, each copy supplied by a biological parent. Two classes of genes are believed to cause the onset and progression of cancer. Oncogenes are genes that can drive cancer after a single mutation in one of the copies of the gene. In other words, those mutations are said to be \u0026ldquo;dominant\u0026rdquo; with respect to their ability to result in cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUnlike oncogenes, a second class of cancer-driving genes, called tumor suppressor genes, are considered to be recessive. Knudson\u0026rsquo;s hypothesis took the point of view that mutations in each of the two copies of the tumor suppressor genes had to happen in order to drive cancer development. McDonald says the hypothesis is still widely held in 2020 by the cancer community.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We believe that our findings are of major significance and call into question many of the assumptions underlying current methods to diagnose and treat cancer based on genomic profiling,\u0026rdquo; McDonald says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis research was supported by the Ovarian Cancer Institute (Atlanta), Northside Hospital (Atlanta), the Deborah Nash Endowment Fund, and National Institute of Health Bioinformatics Training Grant: CRP 10-2012-03.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"School of Biological Sciences\u2019 research tests widely-held medical hypothesis"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study from the School of Biological Sciences raises questions about the chances for cancer to develop in human cells. The research, led by Professor John McDonald, is testing a widely-held hypothesis that involves how many mutations in tumor-suppressing genes are needed for the onset and development of the disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"School of Biological Sciences\u2019 research tests widely-held medical hypothesis"}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2020-02-18 16:49:56","changed_gmt":"2020-02-24 18:17:44","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"632608":{"id":"632608","type":"image","title":"A dying cancer cell with filopodia stretched out to its right. The protrusions help cancer migrate. Stock NIH NCMIR image. The image does not display a cell treated in the Georgia Tech study. Credit: NIH-funded image of HeLa cell \/ National Center for Mic","body":null,"created":"1582050112","gmt_created":"2020-02-18 18:21:52","changed":"1582050658","gmt_changed":"2020-02-18 18:30:58","alt":"Dying cancer cell from NIH microscopy","file":{"fid":"240695","name":"breast_cancer_apop.nih__9.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/breast_cancer_apop.nih__9.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/breast_cancer_apop.nih__9.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":112587,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/breast_cancer_apop.nih__9.jpg?itok=guoTVgYy"}},"632593":{"id":"632593","type":"image","title":"Cancer associated mutations were identified in the 1000 genomes population (1KGP.)","body":null,"created":"1582045362","gmt_created":"2020-02-18 17:02:42","changed":"1582050694","gmt_changed":"2020-02-18 18:31:34","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240687","name":"McDonald cancer study graphic.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/McDonald%20cancer%20study%20graphic.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/McDonald%20cancer%20study%20graphic.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":184245,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/McDonald%20cancer%20study%20graphic.jpg?itok=PBsSBsZ_"}},"632592":{"id":"632592","type":"image","title":"John McDonald, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and director of the Integrated Cancer Research Center. ","body":null,"created":"1582044785","gmt_created":"2020-02-18 16:53:05","changed":"1582044785","gmt_changed":"2020-02-18 16:53:05","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240686","name":"John McDonald head shot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/John%20McDonald%20head%20shot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/John%20McDonald%20head%20shot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":387271,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/John%20McDonald%20head%20shot.jpg?itok=sVr9yekz"}}},"media_ids":["632608","632593","632592"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"2371","name":"John McDonald"},{"id":"46481","name":"Integrated Cancer Research Center"},{"id":"183994","name":"oncogenes"},{"id":"385","name":"cancer"},{"id":"5718","name":"Genetics"},{"id":"183995","name":"genotypes"},{"id":"172695","name":"go-icrc"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"622955":{"#nid":"622955","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Petit Institute Seed Grants Awarded to Three Teams","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThree pairs of interdisciplinary researchers have been awarded 2019 Petit Institute Seed Grants.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe program annually pairs two researchers from the Petit Institute as co-principal investigators, providing early stage funding opportunities that serve as a catalyst for bio-related breakthroughs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe teams and their projects are:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVinny Agarwal\u003C\/strong\u003E (assistant professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry) and \u003Cstrong\u003EShu Takayama\u003C\/strong\u003E (professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory) are working on a project called, \u0026ldquo;Marine bromine bleach bomb net to fight pseudomonas aeruginosa,\u0026rdquo; which is an aggressive pathogen that has high antibiotic resistance. Infections caused by P. aeruginosa usually occur in people in the hospital or weakened immune systems, and they can be deadly. Agarwal and Takayma are joining forces to develop new interventions to treat this and other antibiotic resistant pathogens.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGreg Sawicki\u003C\/strong\u003E (associate professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering) and \u003Cstrong\u003ETim Cope\u003C\/strong\u003E (Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering) submitted a project called, \u0026ldquo;Modifying musculotendon neuromechanics to improve proprioception in aging.\u0026rdquo; Through their research into understanding the interaction between biological and engineering systems, the Sawicki-Cope team plans to develop a roadmap for designing better exoskeleton controllers that may improve mobility in aging by restoring proprioception.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGabe Kwong\u003C\/strong\u003E (assistant professor, Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering) and \u003Cstrong\u003EM.G. Finn\u003C\/strong\u003E (professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry) have a project called, \u0026ldquo;Activity biosensors that implement Boolean logic as precision diagnostics for immunotherapy.\u0026rdquo; The researchers reason that disease detection and evaluation of treatment responses \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E depend on the ability to extract clinically useful information from complex biological systems. Noting that previous work in biological computing led to the use of genetic and cell-based tools, they propose that developing programmable biomaterials to perform basic computations, such as Boolean logic, may provide a new framework to increase detection precision and resistance to biological noise.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Petit Institute Seed Grants provide year-one funding of $50,000 with equivalent year-two funding contingent on submission of an NIH R21\/R01 or similar collaborative grant proposal within 12 to 24 months of the year-one start date (July 1, 2019).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Annual funding program supports diverse range of interdisciplinary research projects "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAnnual funding program supports diverse range of interdisciplinary research projects\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Annual funding program supports diverse range of interdisciplinary research projects "}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2019-07-02 18:20:09","changed_gmt":"2019-07-02 18:20:33","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-07-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-07-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"622950":{"id":"622950","type":"image","title":"Vinny Agarwal and Shu Takayama","body":null,"created":"1562090984","gmt_created":"2019-07-02 18:09:44","changed":"1562090984","gmt_changed":"2019-07-02 18:09:44","alt":"","file":{"fid":"237236","name":"agarwal and takayama.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/agarwal%20and%20takayama.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/agarwal%20and%20takayama.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1674869,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/agarwal%20and%20takayama.jpg?itok=Z9eyGiEB"}},"622948":{"id":"622948","type":"image","title":"Tim Cope and Greg Sawicki","body":null,"created":"1562090880","gmt_created":"2019-07-02 18:08:00","changed":"1562090880","gmt_changed":"2019-07-02 18:08:00","alt":"","file":{"fid":"237234","name":"Cope and Sawicki.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Cope%20and%20Sawicki.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Cope%20and%20Sawicki.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":740899,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Cope%20and%20Sawicki.jpg?itok=nHijuf9G"}},"622949":{"id":"622949","type":"image","title":"M.G. Finn and Gabe Kwong","body":null,"created":"1562090929","gmt_created":"2019-07-02 18:08:49","changed":"1562090929","gmt_changed":"2019-07-02 18:08:49","alt":"","file":{"fid":"237235","name":"MG and Gabe.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/MG%20and%20Gabe.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/MG%20and%20Gabe.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":395675,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/MG%20and%20Gabe.jpg?itok=LRmx_VEj"}}},"media_ids":["622950","622948","622949"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"},{"id":"126221","name":"go-immuno"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"600345":{"#nid":"600345","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Mannino Wins National Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobert Mannino, a Ph.D. student in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, took top honors in competition for the 2017 Student Technology Prize for Primary Healthcare, held in Boston and hosted by Massachusetts General Hospital Ambulatory Practice of the Future.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe annual national competition encourages graduate and undergraduate engineering students to direct their creative skills toward the needs of primary care \u0026ndash; innovations that have a substantial potential to improve the delivery of care, whether they be technologies, instrumentation, devices, or systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe technologies of particular interest improve access to medical care, leverage the skills of caregivers, automate routine tasks, increase workflow efficiency, support patients with chronic disease, increase compliance with protocols, reduce error, or augment the physician-patient relationship.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMannino, who works in the lab of Wilbur Lam, associate professor of BME and a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, won the $100,000 top prize. It will support \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/perfect-patient\u0022\u003Ehis research\u003C\/a\u003E, based on his Ph.D. dissertation, which he\u0026rsquo;ll defend this year. He\u0026rsquo;s developing a smartphone app to non-invasively diagnose anemia.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s research that hits close to home for Mannino, who was born with a rare genetic blood disorder, thalassemia major, which causes anemia and requires him to receive a blood transfusion every month. Basically, says Lam, \u0026ldquo;his Ph.D. is centered on developing new diagnostics for his own disease.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe\u0026rsquo;s already completed an initial clinical assessment of the system, which uses smartphone photos of the patient\u0026rsquo;s fingernails for diagnosis.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"BME graduate student takes top Student Technology Prize"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBME graduate student takes top Student Technology Prize\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"BME graduate student takes top Student Technology Prize"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2018-01-03 17:58:32","changed_gmt":"2018-11-29 19:11:03","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-01-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-01-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"600344":{"id":"600344","type":"image","title":"Robert Mannino in lab","body":null,"created":"1515001946","gmt_created":"2018-01-03 17:52:26","changed":"1515001946","gmt_changed":"2018-01-03 17:52:26","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228868","name":"RobertMannino.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/RobertMannino.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/RobertMannino.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1298762,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/RobertMannino.jpg?itok=Fe5yWjt7"}}},"media_ids":["600344"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"173016","name":"go-apdc"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"611789":{"#nid":"611789","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Cracking the Code","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENearly one out of three people in the United States will have cancer during their lifetimes, according to the American Cancer Society.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile a cure remains at large, innovative treatments like immunotherapies, stem cell replacement and gene therapy are advancing quickly. \u0026nbsp;Screening tests are also playing a role in catching cancer early, so doctors can apply aggressive treatment to send cancer into remission. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAmong those working to change the story on cancer are researchers from the Petit Institute of Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech, three of whom are featured in a story from the College of Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERead about the work of Fatih Sarioglu, Susan Thomas, and Julie Champion \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/cracking-cancer-code\u0022\u003Eright here\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Petit Institute researchers developing new technologies to battle cancer"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPetit Institute researchers developing new technologies to battle cancer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Petit Institute researchers developing new technologies to battle cancer"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2018-09-21 15:27:05","changed_gmt":"2018-09-28 21:17:11","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-09-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-09-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"405151":{"id":"405151","type":"image","title":"Fatih Sarioglu in lab","body":null,"created":"1449254135","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:35:35","changed":"1475895127","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:07","alt":"Fatih Sarioglu in lab","file":{"fid":"76072","name":"cluster-trap1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cluster-trap1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cluster-trap1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1648871,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/cluster-trap1.jpg?itok=OlA1mjWy"}}},"media_ids":["405151"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"126221","name":"go-immuno"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"606597":{"#nid":"606597","#data":{"type":"news","title":"REM Retreat Features Influential Guests","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Regenerative Engineering and Medicine (REM) research center isn\u0026rsquo;t a place. It\u0026rsquo;s more like glue with an agenda, binding together three research institutions \u0026ndash; Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia \u0026ndash; and keeping them focused on the same basic target: enhancing the body\u0026rsquo;s ability to harness its own potential to heal, or regenerate.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The goal is to create an infrastructure for three institutions in Georgia \u0026ndash; Emory, Georgia Tech, and the University of Georgia \u0026ndash; to work together to develop basic research collaborations in regenerative medicine,\u0026rdquo; Ned Waller told a packed room in the Miller-Ward Alumni House at Emory University for the REM\u0026rsquo;s annual retreat, on May 8.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The goal is to bring people together and see how this program can continue to initiate and accelerate collaborations across our institutions,\u0026rdquo; added Waller, the co-director of REM from Emory.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe audience then received a fitting infusion of research and inspiration from cell therapy pioneer Carl June, who provided the highlight of the day, delivering the first-ever Dr. J. David Allen Keynote Lecture. June is the pioneering researcher who led development of the nation\u0026rsquo;s first personalized cellular therapy for cancer \u0026ndash; last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Kymriah\u003Csup\u003E(TM) \u003C\/sup\u003E(formerly CTL019), a groundbreaking chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy which uses a patient\u0026rsquo;s own T cells to fight cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe shared the story of his work in engineering a person\u0026rsquo;s own immune system to cure cancer, and it was exactly what REM researchers needed to hear at this gathering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Translational Medicine was a focus of this year\u0026rsquo;s retreat and is the next logical step for REM, working to move therapies from research to development and into the clinics,\u0026rdquo; said Steve Stice, the REM co-director from the University of Georgia (UGA), where he\u0026rsquo;s established himself as one of the world\u0026rsquo;s leading stem cell researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJune took his audience on a journey through what he called, \u0026ldquo;the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, to really solve the issues of human cancer.\u0026rdquo; And there wasn\u0026rsquo;t an empty seat in the room.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I thought the number of new participants who were drawn to the Allen lecture was a particular highlight of this year\u0026rsquo;s retreat,\u0026rdquo; noted\u0026nbsp;Johnna Temenoff, Petit Institute researcher and co-director of REM from Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking softly to the crowded room, June presented a number of slides to illustrate the story of his research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is probably the most famous sight you will see at any cancer-immunology meeting now,\u0026rdquo; he said, presenting a rendering of the familiar cancer-immunity cycle, divided into seven major steps (circles on a screen, directed by clockwise arrows, beginning with the release of cancer cell antigens and ending with the killing of cancer cells).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJune, named to the TIME 100 (the magazine\u0026rsquo;s list of the most influential people in the world) introduced his audience to the first patient to receive the CAR T-cell therapy, in 2010, Bill Ludwig, a retired corrections officer in New Jersey who was battling a lethal leukemia before the therapy from Penn actually cured him. The audience laughed as June presented a before and after photo of Ludwig, from 2010 and 2017.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the after photo, he looks very sick as he begins the trial. In the after photo, he\u0026rsquo;s brimming with joy, wearing a t-shirt that says, \u0026ldquo;The clouds went away and there was no leukemia,\u0026rdquo; and holding up a handwritten sign that says, \u0026ldquo;I was patient No. 1 of CART-19 and all I got was this t-shirt and remission.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn 2012, June and his team treated the first pediatric patient, Emily Whitehead, who has been cancer free for years. The technology was licensed to Novartis, in exchange for financial support, just six months after Emily\u0026rsquo;s trial began.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPart of the deal was support for a new on-campus cell manufacturing facility at Penn, something similar to what is happening at Georgia Tech, where the NSF Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing (CMaT) is headquartered. \u0026ldquo;I applaud what you\u0026rsquo;re doing here,\u0026rdquo; June told the audience, referring to the REM state-wide partnership, including CMaT.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThough June was the main attraction at this year\u0026rsquo;s retreat, there was another honored guest \u0026ndash; philanthropist J. David Allen, the retired oral surgeon whose generosity created the new annual lecture, as well as the J. David Allen Grant.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Two years ago, Dr. J. David Allen made a very generous gift to accelerate collaboration, stimulate innovation, and enhance the reputation of Georgia\u0026rsquo;s three foremost research institutions,\u0026rdquo; noted Mike Cassidy, president and CEO of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), through which the grant is administered.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Thank you for your gracious gift,\u0026rdquo; Cassidy said to Allen, who stood to be recognized. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a source of inspiration, creating ripples that will result in a far-reaching impact that we can only imagine.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Allen gift to GRA (about $1 million) is being disbursed over a 10-year period in the form of seed grants, and is designed to bolster the partnership between the three universities \u0026ndash; each seed grant team must have investigators from each institution. The first awardee is comprised of Todd Sulchek (Georgia Tech), Jim Lauderdale (UGA), and Young-sup Yoon (Emory). Following June\u0026rsquo;s presentation, Sulchek and Lauderdale took turns presenting their joint research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWaller reminded the audience to check out the research posters from REM seed grant winners that were on display in the Miller-Ward Alumni House, and emphasized the influence and heft of REM to this point \u0026ndash; the development of 17 biotech start-up companies, nearly $121 million in total funds granted to REM\u0026rsquo;s network of more than 170 faculty members.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, there were several success stories culled from the ranks of REM seed grants (which require interdisciplinary teams from at least two of the member universities). Muna Qayed of Emory, Lohitash Karumbaiah of UGA, and Temenoff all made presentations of their research, which has been supported by the REM seed grant program.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOfficially dubbed the \u0026ldquo;Georgia Partners in Regenerative Medicine\u0026rdquo; seed grant, the deadline for submission of proposals for the 2018-2019 cycle is July 9. Winners will be announced in August.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The impact of these seed grants on building the scientific community in our region cannot be over-emphasized,\u0026rdquo; said Temenoff, who shared the progress, novel directions, and new collaborations that have stemmed from her original REM seed grant project (\u0026ldquo;Biomaterials-based Strategies to Modulate Cathespin Activity and Promote Healing of Tendon Overuse Injuries\u0026rdquo;).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Looking forward, we want to continue to bring new researchers into REM, to continue building a vibrant forum for scientific exchange,\u0026rdquo; Temenoff added. \u0026ldquo;The recent emphasis on cell therapies within the state provides a new means to include even more scientists in the area of basic, applied immunology, translational medicine, and biologics manufacturing within REM.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Cancer research pioneer Carl June delivers first J. David Allen Keynote Lecture"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECancer research pioneer Carl June delivers first J. David Allen Keynote Lecture\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Cancer research pioneer Carl June delivers first J. David Allen Keynote Lecture"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2018-05-30 15:00:45","changed_gmt":"2018-05-30 16:50:30","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-05-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-05-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"606592":{"id":"606592","type":"image","title":"REM leadership","body":null,"created":"1527691642","gmt_created":"2018-05-30 14:47:22","changed":"1527691642","gmt_changed":"2018-05-30 14:47:22","alt":"","file":{"fid":"231352","name":"REM leadership.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20leadership.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20leadership.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3717926,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/REM%20leadership.jpg?itok=fX1AYBgO"}},"606595":{"id":"606595","type":"image","title":"REM Carl June","body":null,"created":"1527691835","gmt_created":"2018-05-30 14:50:35","changed":"1527691835","gmt_changed":"2018-05-30 14:50:35","alt":"","file":{"fid":"231355","name":"REM Carl June.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20Carl%20June.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20Carl%20June.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1346374,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/REM%20Carl%20June.jpg?itok=k-DbDuZZ"}},"606594":{"id":"606594","type":"image","title":"REM Krish Roy","body":null,"created":"1527691762","gmt_created":"2018-05-30 14:49:22","changed":"1527691762","gmt_changed":"2018-05-30 14:49:22","alt":"","file":{"fid":"231354","name":"REM Krish Roy.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20Krish%20Roy.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20Krish%20Roy.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1111547,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/REM%20Krish%20Roy.jpg?itok=XNqcKcMD"}},"606593":{"id":"606593","type":"image","title":"REM Ned Waller","body":null,"created":"1527691706","gmt_created":"2018-05-30 14:48:26","changed":"1527691706","gmt_changed":"2018-05-30 14:48:26","alt":"","file":{"fid":"231353","name":"REM Ned Waller.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20Ned%20Waller.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20Ned%20Waller.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1394056,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/REM%20Ned%20Waller.jpg?itok=XDnjgBIQ"}},"606591":{"id":"606591","type":"image","title":"REM June crowded room","body":null,"created":"1527691018","gmt_created":"2018-05-30 14:36:58","changed":"1527691180","gmt_changed":"2018-05-30 14:39:40","alt":"","file":{"fid":"231351","name":"REM crowded room.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20crowded%20room.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/REM%20crowded%20room.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3874133,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/REM%20crowded%20room.jpg?itok=y9Q94AYQ"}}},"media_ids":["606592","606595","606594","606593","606591"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"171346","name":"go-rem"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"},{"id":"178128","name":"Carl June"},{"id":"280","name":"Cancer research"},{"id":"177735","name":"T-cells"},{"id":"178129","name":"CAR T"},{"id":"1489","name":"Regenerative Medicine"},{"id":"4514","name":"immunotherapy"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"600756":{"#nid":"600756","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Thomas Wins Biomaterials Honor","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESusan Thomas, a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute for Technology, has been selected to receive the 2018 Young Investigator Award from the Society for Biomaterials.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe award is specifically given to recognize an individual who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in the field of biomaterials research within 10 years following his or her terminal degree or formal training.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThomas, assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, was nominated by fellow Petit Institute researcher Andr\u0026eacute;s J. Garc\u0026iacute;a, professor in the Woodruff School.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe\u0026rsquo;ll be recognized at the 2018 Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting, held in Atlanta this year (April 11-14), and her research is being considered for publication in the \u003Cem\u003EJournal of Biomedical Materials Research\u003C\/em\u003E or \u003Cem\u003EApplied Biomaterials\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Thomas lab studies the role of fluid transport phenomena in regulating the dynamics and kinetics of cellular and molecular transport processes with the goal of providing novel design principles for targeted drug delivery strategies in disease therapy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher selected for 2018 Young Investigator Award"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPetit Institute researcher selected for 2018 Young Investigator Award\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher selected for 2018 Young Investigator Award"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2018-01-12 19:40:42","changed_gmt":"2018-01-12 19:41:16","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-01-12T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-01-12T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"600755":{"id":"600755","type":"image","title":"Susan Thomas","body":null,"created":"1515785825","gmt_created":"2018-01-12 19:37:05","changed":"1515785825","gmt_changed":"2018-01-12 19:37:05","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229000","name":"Thomas mug.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thomas%20mug.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thomas%20mug.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1785598,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Thomas%20mug.jpg?itok=fr3xCh7A"}}},"media_ids":["600755"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"171346","name":"go-rem"},{"id":"126221","name":"go-immuno"},{"id":"172695","name":"go-icrc"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"},{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"599706":{"#nid":"599706","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Riding the Next Wave","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKrishnendu Roy was very familiar with the news coming out of Philadelphia, about the progress of clinical studies assessing an experimental treatment for leukemia, developed with\u0026nbsp;Novartis Pharmaceuticals by University of Pennsylvania researchers. He knew all about Emily Whitehead, the young girl who was the first patient to test the first engineered cell therapy in history.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEmily\u0026rsquo;s leukemia is still in remission five years after undergoing a 2012 clinical trial at Children\u0026rsquo;s Hospital of Philadelphia of the groundbreaking drug by Novartis, Kymriah (tisagenlecleuce). In a global trial, 83 percent of terminally-ill patients went into complete remission. In August of this year, Emily and her family celebrated the U.S. Food and Drug Administration\u0026rsquo;s (FDA) approval of the revolutionary T-cell therapy for acute lymphocytic leukemia, the world\u0026rsquo;s first genetically engineered immune therapy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s the kind of epic story that reminds Roy, a researcher at the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institution of Technology, why he does what he does.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;These patients, like Emily, are incredibly brave,\u0026rdquo; says Roy, who holds the Robert Milton Chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u0026ldquo;They face the unknown \u0026ndash; these potentially risky, potentially promising therapies. At the end of the day, it is for them, for the patients. I think everybody who works in the cellular therapies space, works with that motivation in mind.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the past few years, Roy has taken the lead role in expanding that space at Georgia Tech, where he is director of the Center for ImmunoEngineering, the Marcus Center for Cell-Therapy Characterization and Manufacturing (MC3M), and the recently-established National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERoy is running point in a widespread endeavor at Georgia Tech to develop cutting-edge cell therapies, and CMaT, which launched this fall, is the latest highlight in a surge of cell therapy-related activity that goes back to the early 1990s, \u0026ldquo;when we went after a Whitaker Foundation development award and decided the focus should be on tissue engineering \u0026ndash; the engineering of replacement tissues using living cells,\u0026rdquo; notes Bob Nerem, founding director of the Petit Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We got that award and began our initiative with three initial focus areas,\u0026rdquo; Nerem adds. \u0026ldquo;The cardiovascular area, diabetes, and orthopaedic tissue engineering.\u0026nbsp; Later, we added the neural area, which in many ways has to be considered the holy grail, because there aren\u0026rsquo;t any viable treatments for many neural issues.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd that\u0026rsquo;s the point of cell therapies: they offer a powerful alternative to patients with a dwindling supply of hope.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We believe cell-based therapies can provide new treatment options,\u0026quot; Nerem says. \u0026quot;We feel that\u0026rsquo;s the future, and we hope to make a major contribution for patients who are running out of options.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECollaborative Heft\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn September 2017, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced it was awarding $20 million to a Georgia Tech-led consortium of universities to establish CMaT, which will serve as the catalyst for a new epoch in the evolution of cell therapies. CMaT researchers will collaborate with industry and clinical partners to develop tools and technologies for the consistent, scalable, and affordable production of living therapeutic cells, which could be used to battle cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and other disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlmost 20 years earlier, NSF sparked cell therapy research with a $12.5 award to establish GTEC \u0026ndash; the Georgia Tech\/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Georgia Tech has been showing great leadership in cell therapy research for a number of years,\u0026rdquo; says Bob Guldberg, executive director of the Petit Institute and professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. \u0026ldquo;GTEC really helped build a critical mass of people here doing regenerative medicine research and established Georgia Tech as a national leader in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGTEC has since evolved into the Regenerative Engineering and Medicine (REM) research center, a collaboration of Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia (UGA).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith CMaT, the number of collaborators has grown. In addition to Georgia Tech, major partners include UGA, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Puerto Rico (Mayaguez campus), as well as affiliate partners Emory, the Gladstone Institutes, Michigan Technological University, and the University of Pennsylvania.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA collaboration across many disciplines is going to be necessary to tackle the complex challenge of properly manufacturing cell therapies. Georgia Tech seems well-poised to lead such an effort, because of its own multidisciplinary capacity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Now we need a broad group of stakeholders to come into play, not only the clinicians and the biomedical and chemical engineers that have traditionally dominated the field,\u0026rdquo; says Roy, who led the National Cell Manufacturing Consortium \u0026ndash; a collaboration of more than 25 companies and 15 academic institutions, along with government agencies and private foundations, that produced a national roadmap for large-scale cell therapy manufacturing.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re bringing in electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, industrial engineers, basic scientists, as well as automation and robotics personnel and experts, data scientists, computational scientists,\u0026rdquo; Roy adds. \u0026ldquo;Bring all of that together with policy experts and our natural science programs, and it makes an ideal coalition. That crosstalk between so many disciplines at Georgia Tech makes it an ideal place for an effort like CMaT.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETech Marks the Spot\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the spring of 2014, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded a $500,000 advanced technology planning grant to Georgia Tech, funds specifically allotted for creating a national roadmap and consortium targeting cell manufacturing. The NCMC emerged from that, under the direction of Georgia Tech and the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn June 2016 at the White House Organ Summit, the consortium presented its 10-year plan, Technology Roadmap 2025, that basically details the critical stages in the manufacturing pipeline, including cell processing, cell preservation, distribution and handling, quality control, standardization, and workforce development.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESix months before the roadmap\u0026rsquo;s public unveiling, Georgia Tech was already on the right path. In January 2016, The Marcus Foundation awarded Tech $15.7 million to build a new research center for the development of processes and techniques to ensure the consistent, low-cost, large-scale manufacture of high-quality cells to be used in cell therapies. With additional funding from the GRA and Tech, the $23 million MC3M \u0026ndash; the first research facility of its kind \u0026ndash; was launched.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The Marcus Center is already serving as a cell characterization hub for a network of clinical trials around the country,\u0026rdquo; says Guldberg. \u0026ldquo;This is a tremendously exciting role, because Georgia Tech will have a lot of the data that will be used to correlate what the important attributes of a cell are that determine whether it\u0026rsquo;s going to work clinically.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInitial funding for the MC3M was slated for five years, after which time the center would be expected to support itself with corporate, government, and nonprofit funding. So, through MC3M, Georgia Tech (in partnership with institutions around the state and country) applied for federal funding from NSF to further augment its research and development in cell manufacturing.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith a strategic roadmapping plan in place and funding for a unique cell manufacturing and characterization center secured, Georgia Tech was well positioned to apply for one of the highly competitive NSF Engineering Research Centers. From an initial group of more than 170 proposals nationwide, CMaT was selected as one of just four newly funded centers for 2017.\u0026nbsp; CMaT is headquartered in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience and will focus on developing enabling technologies as well as the workforce needed by the emerging cell manufacturing industry. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I think we\u0026rsquo;re at a critical juncture in cell manufacturing,\u0026rdquo; says Johnna Temenoff, Petit Institute researcher, professor in the Coulter Department, and deputy director of CMaT.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If we do this right, there\u0026rsquo;s a huge potential,\u0026rdquo; adds Temenoff, co-director of REM. \u0026ldquo;The long term goal is to have a large pool of high-quality cells that we can get to people around the world in developed and developing countries.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis idea of creating affordable new-age medicine for a global population is a major goal for cell therapy and manufacturing researchers like Roy, who notes the high cost of cell therapies. The pioneering Novartis T-cell therapy that cured Emily Whitehead\u0026rsquo;s cancer is listed at $475,000.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;These treatments can be very expensive, and inaccessible to a majority of the people in the world,\u0026rdquo; Roy says. \u0026ldquo;So, the burning question is, how do we bring this to scale and make these therapies cost-effective and available for a broad population across the world, regardless of socioeconomic status? As long as we can develop reproducible product at a much lower cost and achieve manufacturing that is tightly controlled and delivers consistent high-quality cells, we\u0026rsquo;re going to get the answer.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHomegrown Meds\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECell therapies can come from a couple of different sources. The two most common types of stem cell transplants for cell therapies are autologous and allogeneic. With an autologous transplant, the patient\u0026rsquo;s own cells are removed, expanded, modified for a therapeutic purpose \u0026ndash; finding and attacking cancer, for example. In an allogeneic transplant, the patient receives cells \u0026ndash; say, bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells \u0026ndash; from a matching donor, typically a sibling.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Cells can do many things that a single molecule can\u0026rsquo;t do,\u0026rdquo; Roy says. \u0026ldquo;A cell is a complex entity \u0026ndash; a living and breathing entity. They can multiply inside the body, attack and kill certain other cells, like cancer, change the behavior of other cells, like immune cells. These can be extremely powerful drugs. If not harnessed properly, they can be deleterious to a patient as well.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe side effects with the Novartis drug almost killed Emily Whitehead. These include high fevers, low blood pressure, seizures, liver abnormalities, and heart irregularities. The company and clinicians have developed strategies to manage and minimize the risks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the end, for the great majority of patients in the study, the reward was well worth the risks. \u0026ldquo;Our daughter was going to die, and now she leads a normal life,\u0026rdquo; Emily\u0026rsquo;s father, Tom Whitehead, told the FDA panel that endorsed the therapy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWilbur Lam is a physician \u0026ndash; a hemotologist\/oncologist \u0026ndash; as well as a researcher in the Petit Institute. He\u0026rsquo;s seen what happens when standard therapies fail and much prefers having an alternative.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Cell therapies are the next generation of therapeutics. They offer hope,\u0026rdquo; says Lam, associate professor in the Coulter Department, and a pediatrician with Children\u0026rsquo;s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Emory School of Medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis lab has developed a technology in which the patient\u0026rsquo;s own platelets \u0026ndash; the cells that control blood clotting \u0026ndash; can be used as a delivery system for drugs. \u0026ldquo;When it gets to a bleed, it can release its cargo, because the platelet is fine tuned to react to the environment,\u0026rdquo; Lam says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s a treatment that can be used for patients with hemophilia, or patients who have experienced trauma and are bleeding. \u0026ldquo;We can also fine tune this system to go in the opposite direction, use it to deliver anti-clotting medications for patients who have heart attacks or strokes,\u0026rdquo; Lam says. \u0026ldquo;All of which is enabled by the patient\u0026rsquo;s own platelets, which act as the brain and muscle, releasing the drug only where it needs to be.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPetit Institute researcher Melissa Kemp has some personal reasons for her interest and work in cell therapy research, which is based in computational systems biology. Her lab is interested in how intracellular and extracellular environments control the transmission of cellular information, studying living systems using engineering and computational tools, basically looking at complex protein networks the way an electrical engineer might look at a power grid.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We want to understand how these things are connected together \u0026ndash; if you have a failure at one spot, how does that propagate and cause a blackout in another location,\u0026rdquo; says Kemp, associate professor in the Coulter Department, whose family medical history includes conditions that cell therapies would address.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Some of the target applications that Georgia Tech researchers have in mind include cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, cancer \u0026ndash; all of which run in my family,\u0026rdquo; says Kemp, whose father is a cancer survivor. \u0026ldquo;So, I\u0026rsquo;m really excited about the potential of these end applications. The exciting aspect about cellular manufacturing is the ability to really revolutionize medicine in this century.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SxFs0eH2zYg\u0022\u003EWatch the Video\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech leading the effort to develop manufacturing expertise and expand cell therapies  "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech leading the effort to develop manufacturing expertise and expand cell therapies\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech leading the effort to develop manufacturing expertise and expand cell therapies  "}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-12-08 16:19:27","changed_gmt":"2017-12-11 18:07:25","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"599701":{"id":"599701","type":"image","title":"Cell Therapies - manipulation","body":null,"created":"1512748229","gmt_created":"2017-12-08 15:50:29","changed":"1512748229","gmt_changed":"2017-12-08 15:50:29","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228623","name":"cell manipulation - blue.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cell%20manipulation%20-%20blue.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cell%20manipulation%20-%20blue.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":397010,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/cell%20manipulation%20-%20blue.jpg?itok=gq-tu3rw"}},"599702":{"id":"599702","type":"image","title":"Krishnendu Roy","body":null,"created":"1512748339","gmt_created":"2017-12-08 15:52:19","changed":"1512748339","gmt_changed":"2017-12-08 15:52:19","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228624","name":"krish.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/krish.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/krish.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1097764,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/krish.jpg?itok=jK-Z4I_X"}},"599704":{"id":"599704","type":"image","title":"Bob Guldberg","body":null,"created":"1512749196","gmt_created":"2017-12-08 16:06:36","changed":"1512749196","gmt_changed":"2017-12-08 16:06:36","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228627","name":"Guldberg.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Guldberg_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Guldberg_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1692319,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Guldberg_0.jpg?itok=NeX5xYO1"}},"596321":{"id":"596321","type":"image","title":"Melissa Kemp, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory","body":null,"created":"1506027899","gmt_created":"2017-09-21 21:04:59","changed":"1506027899","gmt_changed":"2017-09-21 21:04:59","alt":"Melissa Kemp, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory","file":{"fid":"227261","name":"MelissaKemp-lowres.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/MelissaKemp-lowres.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/MelissaKemp-lowres.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":389042,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/MelissaKemp-lowres.jpg?itok=zNc9YTvJ"}},"592996":{"id":"592996","type":"image","title":"Bob Nerem","body":null,"created":"1498511453","gmt_created":"2017-06-26 21:10:53","changed":"1498511453","gmt_changed":"2017-06-26 21:10:53","alt":"","file":{"fid":"226043","name":"Bob Nerem copy 2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Bob%20Nerem%20copy%202.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Bob%20Nerem%20copy%202.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3017544,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Bob%20Nerem%20copy%202.jpg?itok=OsZdbYUW"}},"391861":{"id":"391861","type":"image","title":"Johnna Temenoff","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475894406","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:06","alt":"Johnna Temenoff","file":{"fid":"75569","name":"temenoff_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/temenoff_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/temenoff_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":68903,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/temenoff_0.jpg?itok=74HAbgQo"}},"446811":{"id":"446811","type":"image","title":"Wilbur Lam and patient","body":null,"created":"1449256246","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 19:10:46","changed":"1512765459","gmt_changed":"2017-12-08 20:37:39","alt":"","file":{"fid":"202116","name":"photo_lam_002.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/photo_lam_002_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/photo_lam_002_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":435600,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/photo_lam_002_0.jpg?itok=r7I_VDSV"}}},"media_ids":["599701","599702","599704","596321","592996","391861","446811"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126221","name":"go-immuno"},{"id":"171346","name":"go-rem"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"},{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"599697":{"#nid":"599697","#data":{"type":"news","title":"One Step Closer to the Clinic","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELast year, cancer biologist John McDonald made news with his lab\u0026rsquo;s development of a novel targeted therapy that eliminated ovarian tumors in limited, \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E tests in mice.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen his team\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;nanohydrogel\u0026rsquo; delivered a payload of RNA to malignant cells, combined with standard chemotherapy, the results were dramatic, \u0026ldquo;the massive reduction or complete eradication of the tumor,\u0026rdquo; McDonald, a researcher with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology, explained at the time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEssentially, the new nanoparticle-based treatment makes chemotherapy more effective. It\u0026rsquo;s the kind of research with a successful track record that national funding agencies tend to support. That\u0026rsquo;s exactly what happened in November, when the National Cancer Institute\u0026rsquo;s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL) gave McDonald\u0026rsquo;s lab a big boost in its research, which was accepted into the NCL\u0026rsquo;s quarterly Assay Cascade characterization and testing program.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Getting one of these grants is highly competitive, and I was pleased to see we were one of only three academic institutions to get the award,\u0026rdquo; said McDonald, professor in the School of Biological Sciences, who heads Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Integrated Cancer Research Center. \u0026ldquo;Most of these awards typically go to start-up companies.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEach quarter the NCL accepts the most promising cancer nanomedicine candidates into the program. The nanomedicines then undergo a rigorous evaluation and testing, including \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E studies to evaluate safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe other NCL awardees include researchers from Stanford University and the University of Utah, as well as the companies, EVOQ Therapeutics, Oncolmmune, Synergene Therapeutics, and ZY Therapeutics.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe treatment McDonald\u0026rsquo;s team developed targets epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs), which are found in the epithelial cells that line the body\u0026rsquo;s organs. EGFRs spark a variety of functions in healthy cells, but in cancer cells they are overproduced. As a result of this overexpression, many cellular functions, including cell replication and resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs, are cranked up. An overabundance of EGFRs found in biopsy typically means a bad prognosis for a cancer patient.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new nanoparticle therapy uses a minute gel pellet to deliver short interfering (si) RNA, combined with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, reducing resistance to the medication and shrinking carcinomas or eliminating them completely. The goal is to use the same nanohydrogel with other kinds of RNA to treat different cancers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECurrent law requires more trials to show the treatment\u0026rsquo;s efficacy before researchers can move onto preliminary human trials. So, while the treatment is still years away from clinical use, the NCL assist through the characterization program helps bring it another step closer to the bedside.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The services they provide would amount to about $1 million if we had to out-source them,\u0026rdquo; McDonald said. \u0026ldquo;So this is a big advantage in moving forward to FDA approval for Phase 1 human trials.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"McDonald\u2019s cancer research gets a boost from Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMcDonald\u0026rsquo;s cancer research gets a boost from Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"McDonald\u2019s cancer research gets a boost from Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-12-08 13:42:10","changed_gmt":"2017-12-08 13:42:10","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"599696":{"id":"599696","type":"image","title":"McDonald Lab","body":null,"created":"1512740309","gmt_created":"2017-12-08 13:38:29","changed":"1512740309","gmt_changed":"2017-12-08 13:38:29","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228621","name":"original.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/original_6.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/original_6.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1294293,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/original_6.jpg?itok=1bWyek0T"}}},"media_ids":["599696"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"},{"id":"173581","name":"go-COS"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"599378":{"#nid":"599378","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Boost for Breast Cancer Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESusan Thomas, a researcher with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is one of is one of three breast cancer researchers from three different Georgia universities to be awarded $50,000 in funding from It\u0026rsquo;s the Journey and The Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education (CORE).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThomas, assistant professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, is researching in collaboration with M.G. Finn, professor and chair of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Chemistry, a proposed \u0026lsquo;two-stage delivery and release\u0026rsquo; drug delivery system with the goal of ultimately eliminating HER2 positive breast tumors. HER2 is a\u0026nbsp;breast cancer\u0026nbsp;that tests\u0026nbsp;positive\u0026nbsp;for a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), which promotes the growth of\u0026nbsp;cancer\u0026nbsp;cells.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe is a winner of the Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society (2013) and the Young Investigator Award from the Society for Biomaterials (2018), and her interdisciplinary research program has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, among others.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s the Journey and Georgia CORE teamed up to provide $175,000 to recognize creative ideas that may advance progress toward detecting, treating or curing breast cancer.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to Thomas, the two other $50,000 grant awardees are Mandi Murph, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences at University of Georgia, and Aneja Ritu, adjunct professor for the Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection in the Department of Biology at Georgia State University. Dora Il\u0026rsquo;yasova, associate professor of epidemiology in Georgia State\u0026rsquo;s School of Public Health was granted a $25,000 award.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe awards were announced at the end of the Georgia 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer, Nov. 12. The event, produced annually by It\u0026rsquo;s the Journey, Inc., founded 15 years ago by breast cancer survivor Randi Passoff. Georgia CORE is an independent non-profit organization (comprised of clinicians, scientists, educations, researchers, and people affected by cancer) that supports clinical research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher Susan Thomas awarded funding from It\u2019s the Journey and Georgia CORE"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPetit Institute researcher Susan Thomas awarded funding from It\u0026rsquo;s the Journey and Georgia CORE\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher Susan Thomas awarded funding from It\u2019s the Journey and Georgia CORE"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-12-01 16:59:36","changed_gmt":"2017-12-01 16:59:36","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-12-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-12-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"599374":{"id":"599374","type":"image","title":"Susan Thomas in lab","body":null,"created":"1512147112","gmt_created":"2017-12-01 16:51:52","changed":"1512147112","gmt_changed":"2017-12-01 16:51:52","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228513","name":"Thomas lab.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thomas%20lab.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thomas%20lab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2295144,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Thomas%20lab.jpg?itok=gGiatW6r"}},"599375":{"id":"599375","type":"image","title":"2 Day Walk","body":null,"created":"1512147209","gmt_created":"2017-12-01 16:53:29","changed":"1512147209","gmt_changed":"2017-12-01 16:53:29","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228514","name":"2 Day Thomas 2017-7.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2%20Day%20Thomas%202017-7.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2%20Day%20Thomas%202017-7.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":144624,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2%20Day%20Thomas%202017-7.jpeg?itok=OBtnDiHg"}}},"media_ids":["599374","599375"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"126221","name":"go-immuno"},{"id":"171346","name":"go-rem"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"597961":{"#nid":"597961","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Rousing Masses to Fight Cancer with Open Source Machine Learning","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHere\u0026rsquo;s an open invitation to steal. It goes out to cancer fighters and tempts them with a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0186906\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Enew program that predicts cancer drug effectiveness\u003C\/a\u003E via machine learning and raw genetic data.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers who built the program at the Georgia Institute of Technology would like cancer fighters to take it for free, or even just swipe parts of their programming code, so they\u0026rsquo;ve made it open source. They hope to attract a crowd of researchers who will also share their own cancer and computer expertise and data to improve upon the program and save more lives together.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers\u0026rsquo; invitation to take their code is also a gauntlet.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey\u0026rsquo;re challenging others to come beat them at their own game and help hone\u0026nbsp;a formidable software tool for the greater good. Not only the labor but also the fruits will remain openly accessible to benefit the treatment of patients as best possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t want to hold the code or data for ourselves or make profits with this,\u0026rdquo; said John McDonald, the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mcdonaldlab.biology.gatech.edu\/john_mcdonald.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Edirector of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Integrated Cancer Research Center\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;We want to keep this\u0026nbsp;wide open so it will spread.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe goods\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers wanting to participate can \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0186906\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Efollow this link to a new study published on October 26, 2017, in the journal \u003Cem\u003EPLOS One\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. There they will find links to download the software from GitHub and to access the code.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey\u0026rsquo;ll start out with a current program that has been about 85% accurate in assessing treatment effectiveness of nine drugs across the genetic data of 273 cancer patients. The study by McDonald and collaborator Fredrik Vannberg details how and why.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Nine drugs are in the published study, but we\u0026rsquo;ve actually run about 120 drugs through the program all total,\u0026rdquo; said Vannberg, an \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/vannberg.biology.gatech.edu:8080\/VannbergLab\/home.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eassistant professor in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe program uses proven machine learning mechanisms and also normalizes data. The latter allows the machine learning to work with data from varying sources by making them compatible.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe bias\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd the researchers have reduced human bias about which data are important for predicting outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s much more effective to put in loads of raw data and let the algorithm sort it out,\u0026rdquo; McDonald said. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s looking for correlations, not causes, so it\u0026rsquo;s not good to preselect data for what you suspect are most relevant.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne big bias the researchers tossed out was a concentration only on gene expression data pertaining to the specific type of cancer they were aiming to treat.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It turns out that it\u0026rsquo;s better to give the program data from a broad diversity of cancers, and that will actually later give a better prediction of drug effectiveness for a specific cancer like breast cancer,\u0026rdquo; Vannberg said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;On a molecular level, some breast cancers, for example, are going to be more similar to some ovarian cancers than to other breast cancers,\u0026rdquo; McDonald said. \u0026ldquo;We just let the algorithm work with about everything we had, and we got high accuracy.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe winners\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers also want the project to pool large amounts of anonymous patient treatment success and failure data, which will help the program optimize predictions for everyone\u0026rsquo;s benefit. But that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean some companies can\u0026rsquo;t benefit, too.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If a company comes along and makes profits while using the program to help patients, that\u0026rsquo;s fine, and there\u0026rsquo;s no obligation to give back to the project,\u0026rdquo; said McDonald, who is also a professor in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/biosci.gatech.edu\/people\/john-mcdonald\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;Others may just take if they so please.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut hopefully, most players will catch the spirit of kindness.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;With our project, we\u0026rsquo;re advertising that sharing should be what everybody does,\u0026rdquo; Vannberg said. \u0026ldquo;This can be a win for everybody, but really it\u0026rsquo;s a win for the cancer patients.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/news\/594430\/skewing-aim-targeted-cancer-therapies\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAlso READ: Basic premise in targeted cancer treatments \u003Cem\u003Ewrong\u003C\/em\u003E 60% of the time\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers Cai Huang and Roman Mezencev \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ecoauthored\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E the study. The research was funded by the Rising Tide Foundation.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHere\u0026#39;s an invitation for a throng of researchers to gather and fight cancer\u0026nbsp;in an open source software project to\u0026nbsp;hone\u0026nbsp;predictions of\u0026nbsp;drug effectiveness. Georgia Tech researchers have kicked off the project with a\u0026nbsp;program they tested to be about 85% effective in making predictions in individual patient\u0026nbsp;treatments. It\u0026#39;s free for the downloading and usage to anyone touching the fields of medicine and related computation. The researchers think their software is pretty good already but that the participation\u0026nbsp;of others could\u0026nbsp;make it soar. And that could save a lot of lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Sharing is caring in the fight against cancer with this new open source software project to predict cancer drug effectiveness. "}],"uid":"31759","created_gmt":"2017-10-27 15:48:01","changed_gmt":"2017-11-15 19:30:44","author":"Ben Brumfield","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"598107":{"id":"598107","type":"image","title":"iStock cancer cell","body":null,"created":"1509397441","gmt_created":"2017-10-30 21:04:01","changed":"1509397441","gmt_changed":"2017-10-30 21:04:01","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228017","name":"istock.cancer.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/istock.cancer.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/istock.cancer.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3492862,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/istock.cancer.jpg?itok=7vo4bczR"}},"592967":{"id":"592967","type":"image","title":"Dying cancer cell from NIH microscopy","body":null,"created":"1498501987","gmt_created":"2017-06-26 18:33:07","changed":"1509122813","gmt_changed":"2017-10-27 16:46:53","alt":"","file":{"fid":"226020","name":"breast cancer apop.NIH_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/breast%20cancer%20apop.NIH_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/breast%20cancer%20apop.NIH_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":210403,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/breast%20cancer%20apop.NIH_.jpg?itok=cKZM3SLM"}},"583540":{"id":"583540","type":"image","title":"John McDonald","body":null,"created":"1478277830","gmt_created":"2016-11-04 16:43:50","changed":"1478281061","gmt_changed":"2016-11-04 17:37:41","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222459","name":"McDonald.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/McDonald.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/McDonald.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":387271,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/McDonald.jpg?itok=COxPAexZ"}},"302161":{"id":"302161","type":"image","title":"Fred Vannberg","body":null,"created":"1449244592","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:56:32","changed":"1493147592","gmt_changed":"2017-04-25 19:13:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"199575","name":"vannbergfred2014.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vannbergfred2014_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vannbergfred2014_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":981984,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/vannbergfred2014_0.jpg?itok=gFSf3Cop"}},"594425":{"id":"594425","type":"image","title":"Ovarian cancer cells cross-section stained","body":null,"created":"1502800697","gmt_created":"2017-08-15 12:38:17","changed":"1502800697","gmt_changed":"2017-08-15 12:38:17","alt":"","file":{"fid":"226548","name":"cancer.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cancer_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cancer_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":179042,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/cancer_0.jpg?itok=GRDkIAWW"}}},"media_ids":["598107","592967","583540","302161","594425"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"140","name":"Cancer Research"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"385","name":"cancer"},{"id":"5155","name":"open source"},{"id":"9167","name":"machine learning"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"},{"id":"2371","name":"John McDonald"},{"id":"176064","name":"drug effectiveness"},{"id":"2824","name":"prediction"},{"id":"176065","name":"projection"},{"id":"176066","name":"cisplatin"},{"id":"1439","name":"chemotherapy"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n177 North Avenue\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAtlanta, Georgia \u0026nbsp;30332-0181 \u0026nbsp;USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter and Media Relations Contact\u003C\/strong\u003E: Ben Brumfield (404-660-1408)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["ben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"597248":{"#nid":"597248","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Next Frontier in Medicine ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGenetic testing today is mainstream, marketing to consumers who want to know where in Europe they came from or what types of hereditary diseases they could develop. For around $200 you can trace your family tree to learn your origins or identify genetic abnormalities that could signal disease. James Dahlman, assistant professor in the College of Engineering\u0026rsquo;s biomedical engineering department, specializes in genetics and believes these genotyping services can be helpful, as long as they are used responsibly.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If you\u0026rsquo;re going to start making medical predictions, you have to be careful,\u0026rdquo; said Dahlman. \u0026ldquo;Most people are not equipped to interpret statistics correctly, which can lead to negative predicting and ethical dilemmas. In a few years, genetic counselors will be in high demand so folks can make better decisions about their health.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDahlman is fascinated by genetics, citing gene therapy as the most interesting field in the world. And it\u0026rsquo;s a field that he is revolutionizing through his research. Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent diseases, including hemophilia, Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s, cancer and HIV. It can help manage a number of diseases by leveraging genes instead of drugs or surgery. Although gene therapy shows promise, there are still risks involved, including unwanted immune system reactions or the risk of the wrong cells being targeted. That\u0026rsquo;s where Dahlman\u0026rsquo;s research comes in.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDahlman\u0026rsquo;s lab focuses on drug delivery vehicles, which are nanoparticles. The nanoparticle delivers gene therapies to the right place in the body to fight disease. It\u0026rsquo;s critical that the gene therapies only target the unhealthy cells to avoid damaging healthy ones. Dahlman is laser focused on ensuring the nanoparticles know what paths to take to reach the correct organ to start the healing process.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The issue with genetically-engineered drugs is that they don\u0026rsquo;t work unless they get to the right cell in the body,\u0026rdquo; said Dahlman. \u0026ldquo;You can have the world\u0026rsquo;s best genetic drug that\u0026#39;s going to fix a tumor or eradicate plaque, but it\u0026rsquo;s not going to be effective unless it travels to the right organ. In my lab, we design different nanoparticles to deliver the genetically-engineered drugs to the correct location.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDahlman is redefining the field of genetic therapy with a testing system he invented called FIND (Fast Identifiable Nanoparticle Delivery). During the course of identifying effective nanoparticles for drug delivery, thousands of nanoparticles must be tested, which presents scalability issues. Mice must be used for the tests because a cell plate isn\u0026rsquo;t going to replicate organs in the human body. But ethically, researchers cannot inject thousands of mice for an experiment of this magnitude. So Dahlman developed a testing system that leverages DNA barcodes (a stand-in for the actual drugs) to label each nanoparticle. Once those are injected, researchers can see where the barcodes went in the mouse. For example, if a significant number of barcodes numbered 30 all went to the heart, Dahlman can deduce that the nanoparticle represented by barcode 30 is best suited for that organ.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The barcode system is redefining our field because we are now able to do several really important things that we couldn\u0026rsquo;t before,\u0026rdquo; said Dahlman. \u0026ldquo;First, we can test thousands of nanoparticles at once, which has been a pipedream in our field forever. Second, we can now study the biology of drug delivery, understanding which genes affect how well a drug will work. And third, we can apply big data and artificial intelligence to drug delivery for the first time. With thousands of nanoparticles being tested at once, we can mine giant data sets for bioinformatics.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDahlman\u0026rsquo;s research and barcoding system has universal implications; he is designing testing systems that everyone can use. Labs across the country can leverage FIND to accelerate their studies. If the technology is used by more labs, Dahlman believes it will increase the rate that gene therapies are developed, advancing the entire field.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENon-liver gene therapy delivery is one of the biggest challenges today that Dahlman hopes to contribute to with his work. The liver has been easier to target with gene therapy because of its filtration system; larger blood vessels let the nanoparticles pass more easily into the organ. Diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis have responded well to gene therapies.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;All types of drug therapies have to be delivered,\u0026rdquo; said Dahlman. \u0026ldquo;Our field has had the best success with the liver, with 15 clinical trials already successfully running using the same nanoparticle delivery mechanism. The liver is responding extremely well to these therapies, and we are healing livers and curing people. The next frontier will be organs other than the liver, like the heart and brain with tighter blood vessel systems.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter 12 months, Dahlman\u0026rsquo;s lab is coming into its own with nine graduate students and four undergraduates working in the lab. Much of the energy and excitement in Dahlman\u0026rsquo;s lab come from the fact that he is a young professor. \u0026nbsp;He\u0026rsquo;s only 30 and easily relates to the students in his lab. Dahlman\u0026rsquo;s had great experiences with faculty members too and describes senior faculty as extremely helpful and supportive.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve gotten carded at two different faculty events, and I\u0026rsquo;ve been mistaken as a student more times than I can count!\u0026rdquo; said Dahlman. \u0026ldquo;But there haven\u0026rsquo;t been any challenges here with being a young faculty member. That was one thing that really attracted me to Tech \u0026ndash; the young faculty seemed truly happy here.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDahlman\u0026rsquo;s personal and professional goal is to be working on high risk, innovative science for as long as possible. He never wants to be in a rut, and he wants to have the courage to pursue interesting and risky science even if lower risk work is safer. In his lab, his goal is to produce great students. In 20 years, he wants to see his students as leaders in the field.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I want people to say, \u0026lsquo;That person went through the Dahlman lab, we have to hire them,\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; said Dahlman. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s what I want for my students, and I think we can get there.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBy Georgia Parmelee\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Dahlman\u2019s gene therapy lab thrives in its first year "}],"uid":"27513","created_gmt":"2017-10-11 19:04:15","changed_gmt":"2017-10-13 12:41:36","author":"Walter Rich","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-10-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-10-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"597243":{"id":"597243","type":"image","title":"James Dahlman, assistant professor, in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering","body":null,"created":"1507748416","gmt_created":"2017-10-11 19:00:16","changed":"1507748749","gmt_changed":"2017-10-11 19:05:49","alt":"James Dahlman, assistant professor, in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering","file":{"fid":"227636","name":"17c10201-p17-003.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/17c10201-p17-003.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/17c10201-p17-003.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":497277,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/17c10201-p17-003.jpg?itok=t-m7DiH2"}},"597247":{"id":"597247","type":"image","title":"James Dahlman Lab - microscope","body":null,"created":"1507748519","gmt_created":"2017-10-11 19:01:59","changed":"1507748519","gmt_changed":"2017-10-11 19:01:59","alt":"James Dahlman Lab - microscope","file":{"fid":"227638","name":"dahlman_microscope.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dahlman_microscope.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dahlman_microscope.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":697642,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dahlman_microscope.jpg?itok=ItTUogRw"}},"597245":{"id":"597245","type":"image","title":"James Dahlman Lab - students","body":null,"created":"1507748482","gmt_created":"2017-10-11 19:01:22","changed":"1507748482","gmt_changed":"2017-10-11 19:01:22","alt":"James Dahlman Lab - students","file":{"fid":"227637","name":"dahlman_students.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dahlman_students.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dahlman_students.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":708215,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dahlman_students.jpg?itok=pvf_dsCD"}}},"media_ids":["597243","597247","597245"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"171346","name":"go-rem"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["wrich@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"597144":{"#nid":"597144","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Digging Deeper into RSV","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can affect almost anyone of any age, showing itself like a bad cold in adults and older children. But in younger children, particularly infants, it can become something much worse.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERSV is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infections in infants and young children globally, often leading to bronchiolitis or pneumonia, sending about 3 million children to the hospital each year. In spite of its prevalence, there is no effective vaccine yet. But researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are on the case.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Treatments and vaccines are currently being investigated, and there might be a vaccine soon, but we really don\u0026rsquo;t know a lot about the cellular events that occur during RSV,\u0026rdquo; says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pwp.gatech.edu\/santangelo\/\u0022\u003EPhil Santangelo\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and a researcher with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESantangelo\u0026rsquo;s lab decided to look closer at RSV, to dig a little deeper,\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re imaging the genome of the virus, the guts of it, looking at what happens inside the cell in the hopes of developing new drug targets,\u0026rdquo; says Santangelo, whose lab\u0026rsquo;s research was published recently in the journal \u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E. \u0026ldquo;Live cell imaging was the key to this research.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research, entitled \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-017-00732-z\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERSV glycoprotein and genomic RNA dynamics reveal filament assembly prior to the plasma membrane\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, could lead to the development of antivirals against RSV and other viruses that use the secretory membrane system during assembly.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinding the Unexpected\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERSV is a cell membrane-wrapped, single-stranded RNA virus (which is closely related to other RNA viruses, such as measles and mumps) that assembles into viral filaments that can be seen on the outside of the cell.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers utilized live cell imaging (with a major assist from research scientist Aaron Lifland, technical director of the microscopy core facility), as well as protein probes developed in Santangelo\u0026rsquo;s lab, and bioconjugation techniques \u0026ndash;\u0026nbsp; Lead author Daryll Vanover (a grad student in Santangelo\u0026rsquo;s lab) used fluorescently-labeled soybean agglutinin to selectively label the RSV G protein (which plays an important role in the assembly of filamentous virions) in living cells. And the results were remarkable, something Santangelo calls, \u0026ldquo;a mind-blowing event.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt turns out, most of the viral components needed for filament formation in RSV assemble within the cytosol, not at the plasma membrane.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The long filamentous structures we see on the outside of the cell, are made inside of the cell,\u0026rdquo; Santangelo says. \u0026ldquo;This is not what we expected at all. The dynamics we saw inside the cell are amazing. We\u0026rsquo;d never seen these structures inside the cell.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere\u0026rsquo;s a lot of protein traffic inside of a cell. Future research from the Santangelo team will explore, in a deeper way, what components of the secretory membrane system are critical for specific protein trafficking into the assembly pathway, and applications of this research may lead to the development of new, effective drugs, \u0026ldquo;small molecules that would inhibit the trafficking and assembly process \u0026ndash; assembly inhibitors,\u0026rdquo; Santangelo says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We haven\u0026rsquo;t seen that class of drugs \u0026ndash; that actually inhibit assembly,\u0026rdquo; he adds. \u0026ldquo;It would be fantastic if you trap the virus inside the cell. If the virus stays there, it\u0026rsquo;s going to be degraded.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to Vanover, Santangelo, and Lifland, authors of the research include biomedical engineering (BME) grad students Emmeline Blanchard and Jonathan Kirschman, BME undergrad Daisy Smith, as well as Eric Alonas (a Santangelo lab alum who earned his Ph.D. last year), and Coulter Department research scientist Chiara Zurla.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Santangelo lab makes startling discovery in research of common, widespread virus."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESantangelo lab makes startling discovery in research of common, widespread virus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Santangelo lab makes startling discovery in research of common, widespread virus."}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-10-09 21:18:11","changed_gmt":"2017-10-11 14:01:30","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-10-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-10-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"597142":{"id":"597142","type":"image","title":"Santangelo and Vanover","body":null,"created":"1507582187","gmt_created":"2017-10-09 20:49:47","changed":"1507833219","gmt_changed":"2017-10-12 18:33:39","alt":"","file":{"fid":"227587","name":"phil and daryll2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/phil%20and%20daryll2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/phil%20and%20daryll2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2425991,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/phil%20and%20daryll2.jpg?itok=SOl7oVHY"}}},"media_ids":["597142"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"126221","name":"go-immuno"},{"id":"171346","name":"go-rem"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"583541":{"#nid":"583541","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Fighting the Good Fight","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe war on cancer is 45 years old. And while there have been some significant advances since passage of the National Cancer Act in 1971, the conflict has spread out along many fronts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith the realization now that there are more than 200 types and subtypes of cancer, the battle plan has evolved from a one-size-fits-all strategy to a data-driven, more personalized approach, which means the army of researchers and clinicians devoted to fighting cancer also has evolved.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re seeing the emergence of the new cancer biology,\u0026rdquo; says John McDonald, director of the Integrated Cancer Research Center (ICRC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s actually being driven now by technologies and expertise that lie outside the traditional framework of cancer biology. That\u0026rsquo;s why I think you\u0026rsquo;re probably going to see major breakthroughs in cancer research coming out of places like Georgia Tech and M.I.T., as opposed to traditional medical schools.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdvances in genomics and high throughput sequencing have generated massive amounts of data, \u0026ldquo;and it\u0026rsquo;s opened up the field to people that were not trained as cancer biologists, but have the necessary skillsets for the analysis of all this new, big data,\u0026rdquo; says McDonald, a faculty researcher with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience and professor in the School of Biological Sciences, who has definitely seen his share of breakthroughs in his own \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mcdonaldlab.biology.gatech.edu\/news.htm\u0022\u003Erecent research\u003C\/a\u003E focused on ovarian cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe cancer biology that McDonald knew when he was a college student has moved from an era of specialization into an era of multidisciplinary research, in which researchers from a wide range of areas now work together on common projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Twenty five years ago, these people probably wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have spoken to each other because they didn\u0026rsquo;t have any common interests,\u0026rdquo; says McDonald. \u0026ldquo;I was like a kid in a candy store when we first came to Georgia Tech, and it still feels like that \u0026ndash; the idea of being in a place where all of this expertise and creativity exist. Cancer research is not a one-person endeavor. It\u0026rsquo;s all about collaboration.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd McDonald has plenty of collaborators within and beyond the ICRC, which occupies a busy space where molecular biology, computational science, engineering and nanotechnology converge. Together, these scientists and engineers are developing next generation cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFamily Affair\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFatih Sarioglu trained as an electrical engineer in his native Turkey and later at Stanford University, developing particular expertise in microsystems and nanosystems, developing sensitive, small-scale devices to look at atoms. After earning his Ph.D., he says, \u0026ldquo;I wondered how I could use these skills to benefit humanity.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESarioglu, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Petit Institute faculty researcher, he spent three years as a post-doc at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, learning about cancer. He found his opportunity, \u0026ldquo;to give biologists and biomedical scientists and clinicians capabilities they don\u0026rsquo;t have.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere was a personal reason for Sarioglu\u0026rsquo;s interest in cancer, as well. The disease took the life of two grandparents. But he was particularly motivated when his mother-in-law was diagnosed, back in Turkey, with late-stage brain cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It was devastating. I knew life expectancy was about four or five months,\u0026rdquo; says Sarioglu. \u0026ldquo;But their diagnosis was based purely on the pathology, a biopsy slice.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe asked a colleague at Mass General, David Lewis, one of the world\u0026rsquo;s top pathologists, for another opinion. Lewis\u0026rsquo; conclusions were vastly different. The cancer was benign, operable, and Sagioglu\u0026rsquo;s mother-in-law is alive and well.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It showed me that we still have to improve how we diagnose cancer,\u0026rdquo; says Sarioglu, whose lab develops microfluidic chips that can isolate tumor cells out of billions of other cells. At Mass General, he worked on a device that captures clumps of tumor cells before metastasis, preventing the spread of cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe\u0026rsquo;s continued that work since arriving at Georgia Tech in 2014, developing microchip technology that analyzes cells accurately and at very high speeds. Essentially, it is a better way to find the needle in the haystack, a minimally invasive way to diagnose cancer, liquid biopsy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The possibilities are endless, really,\u0026rdquo; says Sarioglu, who counts McDonald and Fred Vannberg (an expert in DNA sequencing who specializes in the molecular analysis of cancer) among his research collaborators. \u0026ldquo;The technology is applicable to all types of cancer.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDoing Better\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe primary tumor is rarely the killer in cancer. Nine times out of 10, cancer kills because it spreads to other parts of the body. So when a patient gets a cancer diagnosis, one of his first questions is, \u0026ldquo;has it metastasized?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;You can obviously appreciate the anxiety. The physician and patient wonder the same exact thing. That\u0026rsquo;s the first question,\u0026rdquo; says Stanislav Emelianov, professor in the Georgia Tech\/Emory Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and the Joseph M. Pettit Chair in School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Then there are more questions. What is the prognosis, the treatment, how do I deal with this \u0026ndash; a lot of questions that can be better answered if we know the answer to the first question,\u0026rdquo; says Emelianov, whose team designs ultrasound imaging devices and algorithms, and has embarked on a project supported by a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to use light and sound and a non-radioactive molecularly targeted contrast agent, to answer that anxious first question.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe traditional approach has been to inject radioactive material and tracking that, then biopsy, which involves incision of the skin to expose the lymph node and taking pieces out to look for cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It is accurate, but it is also invasive, complicated and uses radioactive material,\u0026rdquo; Emelianov says. \u0026ldquo;We can do better.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEmelianov speculates that in the future, we may be able to \u0026ldquo;weaponize\u0026rdquo; these contrast agents to actually kill cancer cells. Meanwhile, his team also is using its advanced imaging technology in collaboration with colleagues at Emory University\u0026rsquo;s Winship Cancer Center, to diagnose thyroid cancer and differentiate between malignant and benign tumors.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETech\u0026rsquo;s Cancer Army\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are more than 40 faculty researchers at Georgia Tech who are members of the ICRC. They come from 12 different departments or schools. And there are an additional 16 researchers from academic and medical institutions that are affiliate members. It\u0026rsquo;s a diverse intellectual force that is giving Georgia Tech its own identity in cancer research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We can be a major player in cancer,\u0026rdquo; says McDonald. \u0026ldquo;How many medical schools have this breadth of expertise?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe\u0026rsquo;s talking about young researchers like Susan Thomas, awarded Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s first grant from Susan G. Komen (breast cancer research foundation), supporting her work in immunotherapy for breast cancer; and Manu Platt, whose lab developed a new technique to give patients and oncologists more personalized information for choosing breast cancer treatment options.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd he\u0026rsquo;s referring to computer scientists like Constantine Dovrolis, who has spent the last few years investigating a phenomenon called \u0026ldquo;the hourglass effect\u0026rdquo; that is present in both technological and natural systems. He\u0026rsquo;s adapting what he learned studying embryogenesis with Georgia Tech biologist (and Petit Institute researcher) Soojin Yi to his collaboration with McDonald in cancer research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe\u0026rsquo;s also thinking of BME-based researchers James Dahlman and William Lam.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDahlman, an assistant professor who came to Georgia Tech earlier this year, works on cancer in two ways. Focusing extensively on primary lung tumors as well as lung metastasis, his team works on delivering genetic drugs to tumors.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We have changed their gene expression, and either slowed tumor growth or caused established tumors to recede,\u0026rdquo; says Dahlman, an expert in gene editing. \u0026ldquo;In some cases, we have delivered multiple therapeutic RNAs to tumors, so that tumor cells are hit with a genetic \u0026lsquo;one-two\u0026rsquo; punch that affects multiple cancer causing genes.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis lab also creates tools to understand how cancer genes cause tumor resistance, studying how combinations of genes influence tumor growth, \u0026ldquo;because cancer is such a complicated disease and the genetics of cancer are notoriously difficult to understand,\u0026rdquo; Dahlman says. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s driven by many genes working together at once.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor Lam, the war on cancer is waged in a lab and on the front lines, in a clinical setting. In addition to being a biomedical engineer, he\u0026rsquo;s also a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who treats patients at Children\u0026rsquo;s Healthcare of Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis Ph.D. was actually focused on the biophysics of childhood leukemia, and his research in this area has focused on a small percentage of patients who develop leukostasis (stroke-like symptoms and lung failure).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We always thought it was due to the biophysical properties of leukemia cells, which become big and sticky and jam up the plumbing of our blood vessels in our brain and lungs, which happen to have the smallest blood vessels,\u0026rdquo; says Lam, who is collaborating with Todd Sulchek, associate professor in mechanical engineering and a Petit Institute researcher.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re combining some of Todd\u0026rsquo;s microfluidic technologies and our microfluidic technologies, to develop more high throughput ways to address this issue,\u0026rdquo; says Lam.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe\u0026rsquo;s also collaborating with the lab of BME professor Krish Roy on developing a \u0026lsquo;lymphoma on the chip\u0026rsquo; model, to study how new cell therapies can directly affect the killing of cancer cells, as a way to determine whether those therapies have what it takes to work in the patient.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s all part of the multidisciplinary, \u0026ldquo;basement to bench to bedside\u0026rdquo; approach that Lam\u0026rsquo;s lab, with its connections to Georgia Tech, Emory University and Children\u0026rsquo;s Healthcare, has become known for.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Within our lab, we\u0026rsquo;re certainly interested in technology development,\u0026rdquo; Lam says. \u0026ldquo;But then, we\u0026rsquo;re also interested in the assessment of the technology and, ultimately, directly translating that to the patient. Our lab lives in that entire space.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELINKS\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/icrc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EIntegrated Cancer Research Center\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mcdonaldlab.biology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMcDonald Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/icrc.gatech.edu\/people\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Cancer Army\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Integrated Cancer Research Center developing new weapons for war on cancer"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIntegrated Cancer Research Center developing new weapons for war on cancer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Integrated Cancer Research Center developing new weapons for war on cancer"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2016-11-04 16:44:29","changed_gmt":"2016-11-09 14:00:43","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-11-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-11-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"583539":{"id":"583539","type":"image","title":"Cancer Cells Nov. 16","body":null,"created":"1478277701","gmt_created":"2016-11-04 16:41:41","changed":"1478277701","gmt_changed":"2016-11-04 16:41:41","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222458","name":"Cancer story pic.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Cancer%20story%20pic.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Cancer%20story%20pic.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3204157,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Cancer%20story%20pic.jpg?itok=LyijpXr4"}},"583540":{"id":"583540","type":"image","title":"John McDonald","body":null,"created":"1478277830","gmt_created":"2016-11-04 16:43:50","changed":"1478281061","gmt_changed":"2016-11-04 17:37:41","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222459","name":"McDonald.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/McDonald.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/McDonald.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":387271,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/McDonald.jpg?itok=COxPAexZ"}}},"media_ids":["583539","583540"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"146721","name":"go-genomics"},{"id":"126221","name":"go-immuno"},{"id":"172669","name":"go-icrc-news"},{"id":"172695","name":"go-icrc"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}