CU receives $1.5 million in grants to study drug delivery, Alzheimer's

By Susan Lang

Cornell has received two Faculty Development Awards from New York state totaling nearly $1.5 million. One award is to recruit a nanotechnology expert to develop new ways to deliver drugs to patients; the other is to support a nanotechnology researcher at Cornell in identifying biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease.

Gov. George E. Pataki said that Cornell is one of five universities in New York to receive the awards "to enable those institutions to attract a select group of world-class scientists to New York and ensure the continued long-term growth of the state's high-tech and biotechnology industries."

Lee

Specifically, Cornell will receive $749,400 to support Kelvin Lee, associate professor of chemical engineering, in developing nanotechnologies for protein analysis and to apply novel methods for the quantification of protein expression profiles to identify the biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. (Biomarkers are biochemicals in the body that are useful for measuring the progress of a disease or the effects of a treatment.) The second award of $748,900 is to recruit a scientist who will use nanoscience and nanotechnology to develop new ways to deliver drugs to patients.

The awards are through the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) Faculty Development Program, which assists universities in the recruitment and retention of leading research faculty in science and technology fields with strong commercial potential. The funds provide an incentive for a research faculty member to conduct research in a New York state academic institution, Pataki said.

"We're proud that these funds will allow New York's colleges and universities to attract and retain the best and brightest scientists to our world-class academic research institutions and help us continue to build a solid foundation for our high-tech economy," Pataki said.