The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded funding to a group of UMBC faculty in two Colleges to study how applying heat to drug-carrying nanoparticles can cause tumors to shrink. The researchers will use the three-year grant totalling more than $330,000 to develop a more targeted, non-surgical approach to treating tumors in cancer patients.

“Our proposed experiments and simulations will help determine whether elevating temperature in the body is a viable approach to increase the amount of drug-carrying nanoparticles in tumors,” explains Liang Zhu, professor of mechanical engineering and PI of the grant. “This strategy, if successful, will not only ensure delivering high payloads of anticancer drugs directly to tumors where they are needed the most, but also result in an overall reduction of drug dosage, and thereby reducing systemic toxicity in other body organs.”

The work combines mechanical engineering, biology, and chemistry to use 3D x-ray imaging to understand the amount of nanoparticles transferred from the bloodstream into tumors, and the distribution of these nanoparticles in the tumors. Zhu, Ronghui Ma, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Chuck Bieberich, professor of biological sciences, and Marie Christine Daniel-Onuta, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, will collaborate on the grant.

After injecting nanoparticles into the bloodstream, Zhu and her collaborators will look at the distribution and concentration of the nanoparticles eventually deposited in the tumor. This will allow them to evaluate whether applying heat to tumors lowers the pressure in the tumor, and determine how the application of heat impacts the blood supply to the tumors. Utilizing heat to enhance drug delivery to targeted tumors could lead to reduced toxicity in other body organs, Zhu explains.

Treatment options that are currently available to target tumors include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Although potent therapeutic drugs have already been developed, delivering them to tumors and achieving sufficient drug concentrations throughout the entire tumor remain significant hurdles to overcome, explains Zhu. “Not every patient can have surgery so this is an alternative treatment option,” she says.

One important aspect of the research is to develop a drug delivery method that can be repeated and customized for individual patients. The faculty will use 3D imaging to visualize the distribution of nanoparticles in the tumor, and mathematical simulations to predict how increased temperature might work in tumors of different sizes and shapes.

This NSF grant will continue work on controlling how heated nanoparticles are delivered to cancer tumors. The work began in 2008 and was extended in 2013. 

Banner image: Ronghui Ma, Liang Zhu, and Marie Christine Daniel-Onuta working in the lab. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Rise with our What You Need to Know series. Written by Sheila Suarez.

Activism is the action of campaigning to cause social or political change, and it takes many forms of expression; physical action, artistic expression, and academic scholarship, to name a few. The Native people of the United States have their own strong activism history with the purpose of bettering the lives of those that are part of their community.

Native peoples have been fighting for centuries since the colonization of the Americas. From receiving proper treatment from the government to accessing the land that was once where they lived, indigenous peoples have been actively fighting for respect, autonomy, and equal treatment.

Scholars consider the roots of modern Native activism begins with the Occupation of Alcatraz in 1969. The Occupation of Alcatraz was an action taken by 90 urban Native college students to occupy the island of Alcatraz. Those occupying the island demanded that the island be given back to the Native peoples of the San Francisco Bay area, eventually allowing them to create a college and culture center. After 19 months of occupying the island, the activists were forcibly removed by the United States government, but not before inspiring many others in tribal communities across the nation.

Native peoples’ activism has taken many forms since the Occupation of Alcatraz. The rise of Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a great example of this. Columbus Day, celebrated on the second Monday of October, ultimately commemorates the colonization of the Americas and the subsequent genocide of millions of indigenous lives. Indigenous Peoples’ Day was created in 1992 in Berkeley, California as an alternative to Columbus Day. Through the legal action of Native American leaders, this holiday is meant to be a celebration of the Native Peoples, their history, and their resilience. Slowly but surely, many different cities and townships have adopted the new holiday.

When thinking about Native activism, many may also look to the recent efforts to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux were the first to oppose the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). In addition to legal battles, there was an incredible presence on the ground; peaceful protest happened 24/7 throughout the spring, summer, fall, and winter of 2016. Native activists, like our keynote speaker Dr. Adrienne Keene, came together in solidarity with environmentalists and many others to challenge the construction of DAPL and educate other communities on how this 1,100 mile long oil pipeline could poison the drinking water of the Native peoples in Standing Rock and other communities that lived along its path. It was, however, not only the threat of environmental degradation but the continued exploitation of Native lands by the U.S. government and corporate interests that many opposed. As legal battles ensued, the peaceful protesting around construction sites swelled to thousands, and just so, North Dakota police began to use tear gas, rubber bullets, water spraying, dogs, and other violent tactics to suppress protesters. Unfortunately, in January 2017, President Trump signed an executive action to advance the construction of DAPL. Protesters continued to seek legal protection and stays, but were ultimately booted out by police in February of this year.

The history of Native activism is a lesson in resistance and resilience. As a group that has had to fight for their rights, culture, and land for hundreds of years, their sustained commitment is a testament to the strength and power of their people and communities. Although we have only touched the surface of this history, we look forward to learning more.

If you would like to learn more about Native activism, come hear Adrienne Keene speak about Native appropriations and Indigenous social media, Tuesday, October 24, 2017 in the UC Ballroom from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. In the mean time, take a look at Adrienne Keene’s blog, Native Appropriations, as well as her active Twitter feed @NativeApprops.

Further reading below:

• Zinn Education Project’s Timeline of Native American Activism
• Adrienne Keene’s #NoDAPL: Updates, resources, and reflections
• Stand with Standing Rock News
• Standing Rock timeline from Mother Jones
• Standing Rock And The Forgotten History Of Native American Activism by Ben Railton (more on early Native American Activism)
• Indian Country Today – Native American news source

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Eminent Speaker Peter J. Buxtun

“The Tuskegee Syphilis Study”

Ephesians 4:2-6 (NIV) - “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

“[Paul is] urging them to mount guard over that unity as one would set a troop of soldiers to guard a city or treasury. There are all sorts of things which can attack and spoil that unity, and these must be resisted, whatever they are and wherever they occur… Unless we are working to maintain, defend, and develop the unity we already enjoy, and to overcome, demolish and put behind us the disunity we still find ourselves in, we can scarcely claim to be following Paul’s teaching.” [Wright, Nicholas T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. 2004, London and Louisville, KY]

We can follow the teaching of Paul in God’s word because Jesus Himself was completely humble and gentle, and He came to us in the greatest of love. We can live this way because the Spirit Himself has given us unity with one another.

Let’s pray for our relationships and unity with other Christians, His church. As you pray, and then as you live, be open to the Spirit as He helps you to see how, where, and when He is asking you to make every effort, to defend, and to develop this unity of the Spirit that we already enjoy.

- BR