£5million for nanotechnology healthcare research

UCL has won four grants worth a total of just over £5million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to support research into large-scale integrated projects that exploit nanotechnology for healthcare purposes. The projects will focus on using nanotechnologies 'systems that function at the level of molecules ' to advance knowledge and treatment of cancer, dementia and HIV. The projects funded through the council's 'Nanoscience through Engineering to Application' programme, which supports research that aims to develop nanotechnologies for the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents and for healthcare diagnostics. The grant selection process included a public consultation, which prioritised projects that have a short-to medium term pay off; promote prevention rather than cure; promote patient control and agency; are affordable to healthcare systems; are reliable; target serious conditions; can be recovered from the body and build on strengths in UK expertise. The projects are all due to start on 1 May 2009 and are scheduled to last for three years. Research projects. Professor Quentin Pankhurst,has received £1,648,342 to lead a project investigating novel high-efficiency targeting agents that can treat locally metastatic cancers (cancers that spread out from a primary site in the body).