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Fred Hawthorne, left, shakes hands with Katesh Katti. They
are co-directing the new International Institute for Nano
and Molecular Medicine at Mizzou. Josh Bishop photo
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World-Renowned
Scientist Joins MU
By Jennifer Faddis
University of Missouri-Columbia Chancellor Brady Deaton announced
recently that world-renowned scientist M. Frederick Hawthorne
would join the Mizzou faculty as co-director of the new International
Institute for Nano and Molecular Medicine. Hawthorne, who comes
from the University of California at Los Angeles, is serving with
Kattesh Katti, professor of radiology
and biomedical physics and senior research scientist at the MU
Research Reactor, to provide leadership for the new institute.
Hawthorne has been a member of the National
Academy of Sciences since 1973.
“This move will significantly advance
MU's national leadership in nanomedicine and cancer research while
providing break-through technology and medical solutions to the
world,” said Deaton, whose extensive conversations with Hawthorne
and Katti convinced him that Mizzou needed Hawthorne and Hawthorne
would thrive in Mizzou's synergistic, interdisciplinary research
culture.
“It is the opportunity of a lifetime
to attract someone who has contributed so immensely to this field
and is considered a world authority with more than four decades
of experience,” Katti said. “There is a synergy that
will happen instantly.”
“Together, Dr. Katti and I cover a broad
spectrum, and we should be able to do some very significant things,” Hawthorne said. “I still marvel at what I found at the University
of Missouri-Columbia that I have never encountered anywhere in
the world. The campus literally has everything including a nuclear
research reactor, a medical
school, a veterinary
medicine school and sincere people who are interested in collaborating
with me. I realized Mizzou would be a place where I could fulfill
my life's work, which is to find a new route for attacking cancer
in a definitive way.”
Katti's discoveries in nanoscience led to
the recent opening of the Nanoparticles Production Core Facility
(NPCF), one of the first on-campus facilities of its kind. The
NPCF produces metallic nanoparticles made especially for medical
applications in a patented process. This facility laid the groundwork
for a $3.1 million grant from the National
Cancer Institute, bringing together a team of 12 researchers
under Katti's leadership to use cutting-edge nanotechnology to
detect and treat prostate cancer at the molecular level. The grant
makes MU one of 12 cancer nanotechnology platforms established
by the National Cancer Institute as part of a five-year, $144
million initiative.
“We believe that the MU
Research Office made a strategically important investment
toward the opening of the NPCF. Our investment in nanomedicine,
along with the major grant, is serving as a focal point in attracting
top-notch scientists — including National Academy of Sciences
member Frederick Hawthorne — to faculty ranks at MU,” said
Jim Coleman, vice provost for research.
“This combination, with the establishment
of the International Institute for Nano and Molecular Medicine,
should produce state-of-the-art science that can be used to produce
a new generation of medical products to detect and treat cancer,” Katti said. “Mizzou positions itself as one of the top-notch
institutions in the world to embark on this platform.”
“I have been following Dr. Hawthorne's
work for 20 years and watching it develop into something that
can ultimately cure significant diseases,” said Robert Grubbs,
2005 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry and professor of chemistry
at the California Institute of Technology. “It seems that
MU has set up a perfect place for him to pursue his dreams.”
“Dr. Hawthorne brings impeccable credentials
and world-class science to MU,” said Robert Churchill, radiology
department chair. “To have both Dr. Hawthorne and Dr. Katti
in one department is phenomenal.”
UCLA has been home to Hawthorne since 1969.
In 1998 he was appointed University Professor of Chemistry, the
most distinguished title bestowed upon faculty by the Regents
of the University of California. He served as editor-in-chief
for Inorganic Chemistry from 1969-2000. Hawthorne was
a co-winner of the prestigious King
Faisal International Prize for Science in 2003 for achievements
that will have a profound effect on cancer therapy. He holds joint
appointments at MU in the Department
of Radiology, Department
of Chemistry and the Research
Reactor.
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Last Update:
July 2, 2009
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