4th Annual Cancer Nanobiology Think Tank

Date: May 12, 2009
Time: 8:30am - 5:00pm
Location: Bldg. 549 Auditorium, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD
Theme: RNA Nanobiology - The Emerging Role of RNA in Nanobiology and Drug Design
Organizer: Bruce A. Shapiro, Ph.D., Center for Cancer Research Nanobiology Program (CCRNP)

On May 12, 2009, the Nanobiology Think Tank will be devoted to the emerging field of RNA Nanobiology. We have invited speakers who will bring their expertise on the various facets of this theme and the whole think tank will be focused around the talks, discussions and questions raised by the speakers.

CCRNP (Dr. Robert Blumenthal Program Director) pursues an integrated, multidisciplinary program of basic and applied studies aimed at the design of nanodevices to combat cancer, AIDS and other viral diseases. Steps to achieve the goal:

Characterize quantitatively the physical and chemical properties of molecules and nanomachinery in cells;

Gain an understanding of the engineering principles used in living cells to "build" molecules, molecular complexes, organelles, cells and tissues; and

Use this knowledge of properties and design principles to develop new technologies and engineer multifunctional nanodevices for preventing and curing disease

Nanobiology offers many new exciting approaches to the problems of diagnosing, preventing and curing cancer and other diseases. It also offers alternative ways to think about issues relating to diseased detection, i.e. biosensors. Nanobiology brings together diverse multidisciplinary research groups to solve problems that are associated with nanodesign. It is therefore important that CCR and the research community come together to learn what work is being done in the arena of biomedical nano research. The purpose of the think tank is to establish lines of communication between multidisciplinary researchers from the CCR, National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other institutions from the greater Washington, DC area (National Institutes of Standards and Technology, Naval Research Labs, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology, etc.) to discuss issues and to become more informed about current and future research in Nanobiology.

Invited Speakers:

Luc Jaeger (University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA) - Research deals with RNA tectonics which involves the artificial self-assembly of RNA architectures with novel properties. See http://www.chem.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/jaeger/

Peixuan Guo (University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH) - Discusses the use of the phi29 motor pRNA motif in the assembly of RNA-based nanoparticle therapeutics. See http://www.eng.uc.edu/nanomedicine/peixuanguo.html

Bruce A. Sullenger (Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC) - Focuses on the development of nucleic acid therapeutics including the use of trans-splicing methodologies for RNA repair and the development of RNA ligands to protein targets to block or alter their function. See http://sciences.surgery.duke.edu/modules/surgsci_rsch_sullenger/index.php?id=1

Ronald Breaker (Yale University, New Haven, CT) - Research on the use of molecular switches that incorporate RNA riboswitches, aptamers and ribozymes as biosensors and genetic control elements. See http://breaker.research.yale.edu/index.htm

Andrew Ellington (University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX) - Research uses evolutionary techniques to select aptamers and allosteric ribozymes to elicit genetic control elements to build biosensors that can detect and control disease. See http://ellingtonlab.org/main/static.php?page=aboutus

If you have any questions, please contact Julia Lam at 301-228-4141 or via email at lamj@mail.nih.gov.