NEWS OF THE WEEK NANOTECH
MEDICINE
TARGETING CANCER NCI launches initiative to enlist nanotechnology in fight against cancer
T
HE NATIONAL CANCER IN-
stitute has launched a new five-year initiative to fight cancer by using nanotechnology The NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer will spearhead the effort, specifically to develop engineered nanoparticles to treat cancer. "Nanotechnology has the potential to radically increase our options for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer," NCI Director Andrew C. von Eschenbach said in introducing the program. He noted that the initiative will be a "focused effort that is cancer-led but not cancerSURFACE
centered," adding that the ultimate goal is to get the most out of this new technology to transform health care. To that end, NCI plans to spend $144 million over the next five years to support the initiative. These funds will include about $25 million in redirected money from other programs that have been completed or phased out. The largest chunk ofthe initiative's budget—$90 million over five years —willgo toward funding several Centers of Cancer Nanotechnologv Excellence. NCI plans to release a callforapplications for these centers this fall and expects
SCIENCE
SEE DOWN TO 0.6 A Electron microscope achieves direct sub-angstrom imaging of a crystal MILESTONE IN ELECTRON
A
microscopy—the first direct sub-angstrom imaging of a crystal lattice—has been reported by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Nion, a company in Kirkland, Wash., that specializes in advanced electron-microscope optics [Science, 305,1741 (2004)}. The researchersfitteda 300kV scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) at ORNL with a Nion aberration corrector and made a number of other technical enhancements to the system, producing what they believe to be the highest resolution electron microscope in the world. In their images ofa silicon crystal, they are able to distinguish columns of atoms that are 0.78 A HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
apart. The actual resolution limit of the microscope is 0.6 A, according to team leader StephenJ. Pennycook, who heads ORNCs Electron Microscopy Group. This is a huge improvement over the resolution limit of 1.3 A that they had before the aberration
DUMBBELLS STEM image of a silicon crystal in the [112] orientation reveals pairs of atom columns in which the intrapair separation is 0.78 A.
to have at leastfiveof them set up by next summer. The initiative also includes $38 million overfiveyears for targeted research grants in the nanotechfightagainst cancer. There will be $16 million set aside to train scientists to work in this multidisciplinary environment. NCI plans to collaborate with NISTto work on characterization ofnanomaterials and with FDA to define pathways to get nanotechnologies into clinical testing. Von Eschenbach "^Ce in the cancer research community must reach out to scientists and expertsfromany discipline that offers new ways of understanding, interfering with, and ultimately curing cancer," noted American AssociationforCancer Research President Lynn M. Matrisian in a statement. "This nanotechnology initiative provides an important new modelforhow to d o this." -SUSAN MORRISSEY
corrector was installed, he adds. The team, which includes Peter D. Nellist at Nion and MatthewF. Chisholm at ORNL, also has imaged individual atoms in catalytic clusters. They expect their advance will allow single dopant or impurity atoms to be detected in various materials and nanostructures. "This is an exciting result which shows that sub-angstrom imaging technology can now be applied to practical materials problems on a daily basis," says physicist Philip E. Batson of the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in %rktown Heights, N. Y Pennycook foresees the possibility of further improvements that will allow the group to achieve 0.3-A resolution. He also hopes to achieve 3-D imaging of individual nanostructures. At present, the ORNLSTEM is a one-of-a-kind instrument, but Nion is planning to market a similar microscope with an even more advanced aberration corrector, according to Pennycook.—
CATALYST STEM image shows individual platinum atoms (bright blobs) on an alumina support, with Pt3 clusters circled.
RON DAGANI C & E N / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 . . 2004
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