Researching One Disease Could
Cure Another
healing application,” said Seal, who also serves as director of
UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center and Advanced Materials
Processing and Analysis Center and interim chair of Materials
Science and Engineering.
As the partners continued to collaborate and show positive
results with enhanced wound repair, delivering medicine using
nanoparticles and small molecules led to a complementary
research project for treating diabetic wounds, cancer and
anything that relates to injury to the cells.
One finding of the research was the efficacy of administering just
single doses of drugs using nanoparticles. When compared with
medical treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation where
repeated doses often damage healthy tissues in the body, the
prospect of effective nanotechnology drug-delivery mechanisms
brought hope to many.
cont.
survival rate, it’s very heartbreaking for
families and the medical professionals
providing them treatment.”
The goal of the research is to determine
the right targets using nanotechnology
that could alter the makeup of the genes
and reduce the severity of diagnosis
from high risk to low risk, where there is a
much better chance of survival.
The Nemours Children’s Hospital in
Orlando has only been open for two
years, so partnering with UCF helps
the hospital get established in the
community and get research off the
ground. The partnership also provides
UCF students the opportunity to get
invaluable hands-on experience.
“Teaming up with Nemours
has really taken this project to
the next level and that is only
possible with the Florida High
Tech Corridor’s support,”
said Seal.
“It’s exciting working with Dr. Seal on modulating genes using
nanotechnology,” said Dr. Tamarah Westmoreland, a pediatric
surgeon at Nemours who joined the research team to investigate
applications for treating neuroblastoma, a cancerous tumor that
develops from nerve tissue. “When you work with a disease that
afflicts children and infants and only gives them a 30 percent
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florida.HIGH.TECH 2015
Westmoreland agrees. “I really think
The Corridor’s research program has
jump-started this portion of the research
because it has not only helped with
supplies and personnel, which are
definitely needed, but it also brought
us together. That’s what really gives
us ef