Officials from National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, FDA, Genentech, Stanford University, UCLA and Northeastern University among leaders attending to discuss nanotechnology's promise for preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer at the CancerNano 2007, May 20-24, 2007 in Santa Clara, Calif.

CancerNano 2007: A Symposium on Nanotechnology for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment." (http://www.nsti.org/Nanotech2007/symposia/Cancer_Diagnostics_Imaging_Treatment.html)
is co-sponsored by NCI and NIH, and produced in conjunction with Nano Science and Technology Institute's (NSTI) Nanotech 2007, the leading nanotechnology conference in the U.S., where some 4,000 nanotechnology experts from science, research, commercial and government interests are expected to gather.

"At CancerNano 2007, many of the most respected leaders from research and regulatory communities will help us illustrate to the nano and cancer research communities the valuable role nanotechnology is about to play in the fight against cancer, across a broad range of areas" CancerNano 2007 co-chair Mansoor Amiji said. Dr. Amiji is also a noted cancer researcher focusing on using nano techniques for drug and gene therapy at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass.

In prior years, CancerNano corporate sponsors include Chevron Texaco, General Electric, Motorola, Zeiss, Alcatel, while organizational sponsorship is provided by National Cancer Institute, Nanotech Japan, Swissnanotech and Nanotechnology Australia. Sponsoring media includes Science Magazine, IEEE, Nature Magazine, Physics.org and the Foresight Institute.

About Nanotechnology's Role in Detecting and Fighting Cancer
Nanotechnology has the potential to have a revolutionary impact on cancer diagnosis and therapy. It is universally accepted that early detection of cancer is essential even before anatomic anomalies are visible. A major challenge in cancer diagnosis in the 21st century is to be able to determine the exact relationship between cancer biomarkers and the clinical pathology, as well as, to be able to non-invasively detect tumors at an early stage for maximum therapeutic benefit. For breast cancer, for instance, the goal of molecular imaging is to be able to accurately diagnose when the tumor mass has approximately 100-1000 cells, as opposed to the current techniques like mammography, which require more than a million cells for accurate clinical diagnosis.

In cancer therapy, targeting and localized delivery are the key challenges. To wage an effective war against cancer, we have to have the ability to selectively attack the cancer cells, while saving the normal tissue from excessive burdens of drug toxicity. However, because many anticancer drugs are designed to simply kill cancer cells, often in a semi-specific fashion, the distribution of anticancer drugs in healthy organs or tissues is especially undesirable due to the potential for severe side effects. Consequently, systemic application of these drugs often causes severe side effects in other tissues (e.g. bone marrow suppression, cardiomyopathy, neurotoxicity), which greatly limits the maximal allowable dose of the drug. In addition, rapid elimination and widespread distribution into non-targeted organs and tissues requires the administration of a drug in large quantities, which is often not economical and sometimes complicated due to non-specific toxicity. This vicious cycle of large doses and the concurrent toxicity is a major limitation of current cancer therapy. In many instances, it has been observed that the patient succumbs to the ill effects of the drug toxicity far earlier than the tumor burden.

This CancerNano 2007 symposium will address the potential ways in which nanotechnology can address these challenges. Distinguished speakers will summarize the current state of the art and future barriers. Contributions are also solicited in the following topics.

CancerNano Speaker Highlights
CancerNano 2007 will feature two well-known keynoters, representing the government and private sector nanotechnology research for cancer.

"¢ NCI Deputy Director, Anna D. Barker, one of NCI's top experts on the state of research for using nanotechnology to fight cancer; and

"¢ Nicholas van Bruggan, who as Associate Director for Biomedical Imaging at Genentech is one of the biotechnology giant's most knowledgeable executives on using nanotechnology for drug discovery.

CancerNano 2007 will also host 20+ sessions that will address many of the most cutting-edge questions facing researchers looking to move basic research findings from the lab and into clinical trials. Among the CancerNano 2007 topics are:
"¢ Designing and testing more complex nanosystems that would 'self-assemble' in the body to provide on-going data for monitoring cancer treatments;
"¢ How computer modeling and chemistry mechanisms to design and build new synthetic materials
"¢ The best ways to ensure the use of safe nanoparticles for cancer diagnostics and imaging.
"¢ Building nano-carriers for drug delivery and gene therapy
"¢ Exploring nano-doses of electromagnetics and heat to attack tumors from the inside, and
"¢ How nano-assembled drugs and therapies (based on already-approved procedures and compounds) could enable nano-scale medicines to be regulated under rules for 'generics' medicines.
CancerNano 2007 held during Nanotech 2007 Conference
And Expo in May 2007 in Santa Clara, California
"As part of our ongoing mission to encourage the growth and adoption of Nanotechnology sciences, we are privileged to be working with NCI, FDA, NIH and leading cancer scientists from around the world to expand the bridges between these two communities." said Matthew Laudon, Executive Director for NSTI. "Over the last few years, we have seen tremendous growth and progress by combining researchers of all disciplines in a focused fight to eradicate cancer. We're proud to continue this effort with CancerNano 2007." For more information on speakers and sessions at CancerNano 2007: A Symposium on Nanotechnology for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment." go to: http://www.nsti.org/Nanotech2007/symposia/Cancer_Diagnostics_Imaging_Treatment.html

About Nanotech 2007 and Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI)
The Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI; www.nsti.org) is chartered with the advancement and integration of nano and other advanced technologies through education, collaboration and research services. NSTI accomplishes this mission through its offerings of continuing education programs, conventions, scientific and business publishing and custom research services. NSTI produces the annual Nanotech 200x conference and trade show (now in its 10th year), the world's largest event to focus on nanoscience and nanotechnology, attracting more than 4,000 industrial, academic, business and governmental attendees from around the world.