Career snapshots
Nanotechnology
The translation of nanotechnology-based therapies and products from the laboratory to
the clinic requires a multidisciplinary approach. Our two interviewees this month discuss
their roles in bringing together diverse groups of scientists to achieve this goal.
Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D.
University Endowed
Chair in Biomedical
Engineering, Professor
and Chair, Department
of Nanomedicine and
Biomedical Engineering,
and Professor of Internal Medicine,
The University of Texas Health Science
Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
In September 2009, Mauro Ferrari became
the founding chairman of the Department of
Nanomedicine and Biomedical Engineering
(nBME) at the University of Texas Health Science
Center. This department brings together
researchers in nano-engineering, mathematical
modelling and biomedical sciences to develop
nanotechnology-based therapeutics and
diagnostic platforms that address unmet
medical needs. “The establishment of the
department in the medical school is a seminal
transformation because it has allowed us
to be the very first university to integrate
nanomedicine into the curriculum of medical
students,” says Ferrari.
Scott E. McNeil, Ph.D.
Director, Nanotechnology
Characterization
Laboratory, National
Cancer Institute at
Frederick, Maryland, USA.
The Nanotechnology Characterization
Laboratory (NCL) performs preclinical efficacy
and toxicity testing of nanoparticles. It is a
national resource for cancer researchers who
are developing nanotechnologies intended
for therapeutic or diagnostic applications.
“We generate data in support of the chemistry,
manufacturing and controls, and pharmacology
and toxicology information sections of the
sponsor’s investigative new drug application,”
says Scott McNeil, Director of the NCL.
McNeil’s career path to the NCL began with
a Ph.D. in cell biology from the Oregon Health
Sciences University, USA, in 1997. Following his
Ph.D., McNeil took a position with the US Army,
in which he had previously served as a means
to pay for his undergraduate degree. “I applied
my Ph.D. to help solve science problems for
the military, which included nanotechnology
research,” he says.
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Following his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering
at the University of California, Berkeley
(UC Berkeley), USA, Ferrari took faculty positions in
materials science and engineering, as well as civil
engineering, at UC Berkeley in 1991. His research
interests expanded into bioengineering in 1994,
and by 1996 he was a tenured faculty member
and the director of the Biomedical Microdevices
Center at UC Berkeley. “I left UC Berkeley to
become full professor of medicine and department
director at Ohio State University (OSU), where I
also went to medical school,” says Ferrari.
While at OSU, Ferrari also directed the
development of the National Cancer Institute’s
funding programme for nanotechnology in
cancer. “This launched in 2005 and is still the
largest medical nanotech program in the world,”
he says. In 2006, he moved to the University of
Texas Health Science Center at Houston, where
he is today. “I run my research group (which
with ~100 people is possibly the world’s largest
research group in nanomedicine), chair the new
nBME Department and am President of the
Alliance for NanoHealth, which is basically a
funding agency to foster the clinical translation
of nanotechnology in Houston. We fund about 70
faculty members outside of my lab, from 8 member
When he left the army, McNeil wondered how
his experience in the seemingly unrelated fields
of cell biology and nanotechnology would come
together in a viable career. Unexpectedly, he
received a call from the National Cancer Institute
at Frederick (NCI–Frederick) asking him to consult
for them on the nanotechnology programme
they were initiating. For 3 years he was Senior
Scientist in the Nanotech Initiatives Division
at Science Applications International Corp
(SAIC). NCI–Frederick is a government-owned,
contractor-operated entity; SAIC at Frederick
operates its laboratories.
As a result of his experience at the SAIC, he was
asked to establish and operate the NCL. “When I
first heard that the NCI was using nanotechnology
for cancer therapy and diagnosis, I was quite
sceptical. But when I examined the data for myself
and could see that nanotech-based formulations
contributed to increased efficacy and decreased
toxicity, I knew that I wanted to be a part of that
effort,” he explains.
Now, McNeil enjoys translating nanotechnology-
based particles developed by cancer researchers
from the laboratory bench into clinical trials.
“The odds are against new compounds making it
into the clinic, as most new chemical entities are
disqualified from clinical use for one reason or
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institutions, and we have a formal and unique
partnership with the FDA on nanomedicine.”
Ferrari is also a tenured professor of
experimental therapeutics at the M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center, and an adjunct
professor of bioengineering at Rice University
and the University of Texas in Austin. For all of the
positions he has held and currently holds, Ferrari
has been driven by what he calls ‘medical pull’
— developing technological solutions by seeing
the unmet need from the medical perspective.
“Many technologists look for applications for the
technologies that they have developed, but this
is rarely successful,” he explains.
With his interdisciplinary background, Ferrari
is well placed to drive the collaboration needed
to translate nanomedicine from the laboratory
into the clinic. “That is why I am now in Houston,
as the Texas Medical Center is number one
in the USA and has many more clinical trials
than anyone — thus my choice, since I am
translationally minded,” he says, adding that
bringing innovation to the clinic is a particularly
rewarding endeavour. “Of course, working with
tremendously talented young people and serving
them in their career and interdisciplinary growth
is very rewarding, as well.”
another. Nanotechnology allows us to engineer
around those previously disqualifying traits,”
he says. “It is rewarding to know that several
nanotech-based drugs we helped characterize
are now being used in clinical trials.”
To address the challenges of characterizing
nanotechnology-based products, McNeil
directs an interdisciplinary group that includes
chemists, physicists and biologists from
various backgrounds. A key issue was therefore
ensuring that laboratory meetings were
conducted in a common language. The benefits
of an interdisciplinary approach soon became
evident. “One of our sponsors had spent
3 years attempting to address a characterization
problem. I posed the problem to the NCL scientific
staff and, using the team’s collaborative and
interdisciplinary approach, we were able to
quickly offer a validated method,” he says.
This kind of problem is now a daily challenge for
McNeil’s team. However, he says that the military
engrained in him the importance of ‘mission first’.
“Every day, this prioritizes our efforts here in the
form of translational medicine.”
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Career snapshots: http://www.nature.com/drugdisc/nj/
nj_dd_arch.html
volume 8 | november 2009 | 911