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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.

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.

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 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.”

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.

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 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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