Nanotechnology Pioneer Ferrari Joins UT Health Science Center
Scientist also will lead Houston's Alliance for NanoHealth
HOUSTON—(April 17, 2006)—One of the founders of the field of biomedical nanotechnology is on his way to Houston and the Texas Medical Center, drawn by the opportunity to translate scientific advances in the tiniest technology into care for patients facing enormous health threats.
Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D.
Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., joins the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston this month as a professor of nanotechnology. He also will be president of the Alliance for NanoHealth, a collaborative venture of seven Houston-area research institutions dedicated to nurturing medical applications of the relatively new science of creating materials and devices on a nanometer scale – one billionth of a meter.
“The Alliance for NanoHealth’s mission is clinical translation of breakthrough innovation. Nanotechnology will revolutionize medicine. We in Houston have a unique leadership opportunity to accelerate enormously this translation into the clinic in a systematic, organized fashion. We are two or three steps ahead of the pack,” Ferrari said.
“Dr. Ferrari is an extremely productive translational scientist whom we expect to be a leader in nanotechnology research, not only at our institution, but also in bringing together research efforts in the Texas Medical Center and beyond,” said UT Health Science Center at Houston President James T. Willerson, M.D. “Dr. Rick Smalley (Rice University Nobel Laureate who passed away in 2005) admired Dr. Ferrari’s work and urged us to recruit him. We expect great things from him, in collaboration with our colleagues in Houston.”
Ferrari has authored more than 150 scientific papers, earned 17 patents, generated four biomedical start-up companies, and been awarded $26 million in grant funding since 1990. He spent two years as eminent scholar and special expert on nanotechnology for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), developing a plan that led to the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer—which, at $144 million, is the world’s largest program in medical nanotechnology.
“My time at NCI through last August allowed me to scope out biomedical nanotechnology capabilities around the country and the world,” Ferrari said. “With its expertise in nanotechnology and its excellence in clinical trials, I think Houston is the best place to bring these new approaches to the clinic, where they are needed most.”
A collaborative effort led by Willerson and UT Health Science Center Vice President for Biotechnology S. Ward Casscells, M.D.—which was strongly supported by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Rep. John Culberson, Rice University President David W. Leebron, J.D., and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center President John Mendelsohn, M.D.—brought Ferrari and his research to Houston from The Ohio State University, where he was a professor and associate vice president for health science technology and commercialization.
“This alignment of leadership is unique to Houston,” Ferrari said. “We cannot be too shy or hesitant to act when such great alignments occur.”
A 5-year, nearly $12 million package from several sources covers salaries for Ferrari’s team of scientists and staff, plus start-up costs to establish his lab in the Fayez Sarofim Research Building, the new home of the IMM.
“Senator Hutchison played a critical role in the recruitment of Dr. Ferrari and is contributing enormously to stimulating nanotechnology research in Texas,” Willerson said. “She has worked very hard to encourage and support the development of nanotechnology for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes among medical scientists in Texas and in Houston. Her help has been invaluable, and we are extremely grateful for her leadership, insights and vigorous support.”
“I am so pleased that Dr. Ferrari is joining Team Texas in our continued effort to lead the nation in scientific research,” said Sen. Hutchison. “He is the perfect person to consolidate the efforts of our wonderful universities and experts in the field. I worked hard to secure $4 million for this project, and it has paid off in droves.”
Willerson said Governor Perry also played a key role with his strengthening of the recruitment package through the Emerging Technology Fund. “As did Congressman John Culberson, who has given time and attention to the recruitment of world’s best scientists and to advancing nanotechnology,” Willerson noted. “We are extremely fortunate that our leaders have the vision and the determination necessary to put Texas in a leadership position in nanotechnology.”
“Dr. Ferrari is a renowned leader in the life sciences and has a strong record in commercialization and breakthrough science—we are thrilled to welcome him and his team to Texas,” Gov. Rick Perry said. “I am confident that this investment will help attract research dollars to Texas and encourage more life science companies to grow in our state. Most importantly, Dr. Ferrari and his team have the potential to save and improve the quality of life of many Texans through the medical advancements they will make.”
Ferrari’s principal academic appointment is at the UT Health Science Center, with secondary faculty appointments at Rice and M. D. Anderson. Ferrari expects to work with the four other members of the Alliance for NanoHealth—the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Houston, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the Texas A&M University Health Science Center.
His research interests focus on cardiovascular disease and cancer. “In all likelihood, those areas will remain the central thrust of my work, but if an opportunity arises in infectious diseases or diabetes, if it’s something our technology can help with, we’ll work on those areas, too.”
Last year, he published an overview of nanotechnology possibilities for the early diagnosis of cancer in Nature Reviews Cancer. Leonardo Biosystems, the newest start-up company stemming from his research, focuses on nanotechnology-based cancer therapeutics by integrating Ferrari’s technologies with others from leading research institutions. Technology transfer will be an important part of his role in Houston, Ferrari and Willerson said, both for his own work and to help researchers in other institutions move their ideas from lab bench to clinical bedside.
Ferrari is founder and editor of the journal Biomedical Microdevices, the oldest journal dedicated to the relatively new field of nanotechnology and microtechnology in medicine.
He also edited the recently released four-volume reference series “BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology,” and is editor-in-chief of a book series on medical technology innovation. For the past seven years he has been the scientific chairman of the leading scientific and industrial conference in medical nanotechnology, scheduled this year in Baltimore – but next year, he hopes, in Houston.
“It’s really going to be exciting,” Ferrari said. “This is not a job. You can get a job anywhere. This is a turning event in the way we deal with cancer and cardiovascular disease and Houston is going to be the centerpiece. We plan to be the place in the world to bring nanotechnology into the clinic on a large scale.”
Ferrari, 46, is relocating to Houston with his wife Paola, and their five children: Giacomo, and two sets of twin daughters: Kim, Chiara, Ilaria and Federica.
Ferrari’s recruitment to the UT Health Science Center follows the recent hiring of C. Thomas Caskey, M.D., as chief operating officer and director-elect of the IMM.
Caskey has joined the IMM leadership team of Nobel Laureate Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., director, and Deputy Director Irma Gigli, M.D. He was founding director of Houston-based Cogene Biotech Ventures and Cogene Ventures, venture capital funds supporting early-stage biotechnology and life sciences companies.
Media Contact: David Bates
Media Hotline: 713.500.3030