Fedoruk Centre grants $1 million to nuclear research in Saskatchewan including College of Pharmacy and Nutrition Professor Dr. Ildiko Badea and her team
SASKATOON, SASK – Six research projects, all from the University of Saskatchewan, have received close to $1 million in funding from the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation.
Principal researcher Ildiko Badea from the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, Saskatoon Health Region co-investigator Humphrey Fonge, and colleagues at the University of Manitoba Small Animal and Materials Imaging Core Facility will receive funding to study gene delivery nanoparticles targeting melanoma. This is a proof-of-concept project focused on using nuclear imaging to develop and track the targeted delivery of drugs by nanoparticles – chunks of matter billionths of a metre in size – directly to skin cancer cells. The long-term goal is to develop a method to deliver drugs or gene therapies directly to a tumour or other diseased tissue inside a patient. Being able to better understand the properties of nanoparticles and tracking their distribution in the body is key to using nanoparticles to treat cancer and a number of other diseases, as well as to develop new types of vaccines.
(Source: Fedoruk Center News Release)