The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Cancer: focus is on targeted therapy

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Sunday, Sep 28, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Cancer: focus is on targeted therapy

PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

Though many technologies have emerged, there has been no significant breakthrough in the causes of cancer and its detection. Concerted efforts are going on to develop technologies and tools to understand how cancer develops and ways to detect it, says Joseph Irudayaraj, Associate Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, Indiana, the U.S.

Research

He is the lead investigator of the research in nano-medicine and cellular engineering for detection and therapy of cancer at the university.

On a visit to Coimbatore, he speaks to Amutha Kannan on developing diagnostics and therapeutic tools to combat cancer.

An agriculture engineer from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Mr. Joseph pursued higher education in computer science and agricultural engineering and acquired a doctorate in bio-systems engineering.

His initial research was in using sensors for food quality, safety and security.

Later, he got involved in applying bio-sensors to food systems. With a research experience of more than six years in the field, he decided to shift his area of interest and apply bio-sensors for diagnostic purposes.

From 2003, he is involved in developing bio-sensors for early detection of cancer. At present, he is involved in integrating nanotechnology and sensors for detection as well as therapy.

“Now the focus is on early detection and targeted therapy. At whatever stage the cancer is detected, it will be treated at that stage. We are working on using the same nano-particles (could be in the form of nano-rods or robots) for detection as well as therapy. For the sake of detection, the nano-particles can be injected into the body. For therapy, the nano-particles will be attached to the drug and injected into the body,” says Mr. Joseph.

He says there are several groups working in the same field now.

“It has become very competitive. Still, there are a lot of gaps that have to be addressed, like information regarding symptoms and stages, how early or late the markers present themselves, etc.”

With support from the National Institute of Health, the U.S., and the Purdue Cancer Centre, Mr. Joseph is pursuing his research with a network of experts from different fields.

He is optimistic that in the next five years several technologies could come up in combating the disease.

Alzheimer’s

He is also looking towards applying the same technology in early detection of Alzheimer’s and has his eyes set on developing real-time diagnostics.

He is collaborating with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, to establish an Indo-U.S. knowledge network in the area of nano-medicine.

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