James Heath

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Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center

The importance of the NSBCC project to human health Once a patient's cancer has advanced beyond a surgical cure, no single available therapy has shown efficacy for promoting a durable and long-term remission. Of course, the standard combinations of radiation and chemotherapy provide a more effective treatment than either one alone, but modern cancer therapy presents a host of less toxic and more promising therapies, in the form of targeted inhibitors and immunotherapies. Immunotherapies, in particular, have been in the news recently because of the remarkable success they have had in providing certain classes of cancer patients with durable responses, while at the same time being relatively well-tolerated. However, even for those therapies, the responding patient populations, and the cancer class that can be treated, are highly selective. Identifying and delivering effective combination immunotherapies or combination targeted therapies has thus emerged as a very significant challenge in clinical cancer care. The proposed NSBCC has four highly complementary scientific projects that are specifically aimed at developing nanotechnologies that can help identify or deliver effective therapy combinations for both targeted inhibitors and cancer immunotherapies. The project is strongly connected to clinical programs to help ensure effective clinical translation.