# T32: Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Training Program in Nanotechnology for Cancer Research

> **NIH NIH T32** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $188,303

## Abstract

Project Summary
The interface between nanotechnology and medicine is a new frontier for scientific exploration and for
the creation of new and improved diagnostic and therapeutic tools to detect, treat, cure, and prevent
human diseases. We propose to create an integrated predoctoral and postdoctoral training program
in nanotechnology for cancer research (NTCR) that is positioned at this interface. It is based on two parent
R25 and T32 training grants in the same area. This program will establish a unique national resource with
interdisciplinary and synergistic programs in fundamental research in cancer biology, industrial
collaboration, and translational research in cancer medicine. This program fosters predoctoral and
postdoctoral fellows who are trained across disciplines to lay foundations for technologies that enable
an inside-view of cancer cell functions as opposed to the limited black-box input-output techniques currently
used, introduce new modalities for molecular imaging, develop new high-throughput diagnostic tools, and
engineer novel drug/antibody/siRNA viral and non-viral delivery systems to treat human cancers. NTCR
fellows develop novel cancer diagnostics to evaluate each individual patient's prognosis and optimal
treatment, based upon the patients' genetic and epigenetic markers and disease phenotype and
therapeutics that are selected and optimized for each individual patient. NTCR trainees take one of three
core courses depending on their background, as well as a lab course in cancer nanobiotechnology. They
participate in a journal club and a dedicated annual symposium, as well as clinical conferences and tumor
boards. The NTCR program will recruit outstanding trainees every year with MD and/or PhD degrees
and diverse backgrounds in either biochemistry, physics, molecular/cellular/cancer biology, or an
engineering/physics discipline for a steady state number of 2 postdoctoral and 6 predoctoral fellows. The
NTCR program lasts 3 years for postdoctoral trainees and 4-5 years for predoctoral trainees. NTCR
fellows take advantage of research and clinical resources at the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel
Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Ludwick Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics, The Sol
Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Center, and the In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center, as well as
the unique educational resources and experimental facilities of the recently established Johns Hopkins
Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), which previously housed the center for cancer nanotechnology
excellence (CCNE) and currently the physical sciences-oncology center (PSOC).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10824232
- **Project number:** 5T32CA153952-13
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Denis Wirtz
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $188,303
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-09-01 → 2027-02-25

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10824232

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10824232, T32: Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Training Program in Nanotechnology for Cancer Research (5T32CA153952-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10824232. Licensed CC0.

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