Making the Revolution Happen
The Institute for BioNanotechnology's (IBNAM) mission is to combine the expertise of faculty members from Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in a collaborative environment and to foster cross-disciplinary research initiatives that cannot take place in isolation. IBNAM especially aims to promote translational bionanotechology research that has the potential to revolutionize regenerative medicine and produce targeted therapeutics.
To support the mission, IBNAM
- facilitates cross-disciplinary research and cross-campus faculty collaborations
- fosters high-impact sponsored research and provides support for collaborative proposal submissions
- manages prime research space on the Chicago campus that houses laboratories of IBNAM's resident faculty members
- operates unique Core Facilities to support the research efforts of Northwestern faculty and the Chicago area research community
- cultivates a strategic alliance with Baxter Healthcare, Inc., and oversees the IBNAM-Baxter Incubator and Early Career Award programs which fund innovative research and promising young bioengineering scientists
- sponsors seminars, colloquia, research retreats, an international exchange program with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, a web site, and a listserv to facilitate communication among researchers and between the bionanotechnology and medical research communities
Collaborative Research
The institute performs research in fields that can have profound impacts on regenerative medicine and targeted therapeutics, such as self-assembly, tissue engineering, genomics, smart drug delivery, and developing new bionanotechnologies. IBNAM faculty members work on developing tools for detecting and treating cancer, reversing paralysis due to spinal cord injury, regenerating vital organs, repairing the vascular system, and developing targeted therapeutics for dreaded diseases such as Alzheimer's, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and Parkinson's.
Vision of the Future
Scientific collaborations at IBNAM could provide the means to accelerate genome sequencing, offer new techniques for characterizing the internal structure of cells, and mimic properties of the materials and molecular machines found in living systems. These advances may lead to
- revolutionary diagnostics and therapeutics
- novel gene therapy approaches to disease
- effective and minimally invasive medical procedures using remote and tiny devices to probe the human body
- new formulations and routes for smart drug delivery that may enormously broaden a drug's therapeutic potential by targeting specific sites or reaching previously inaccessible locations
- bionanomatierials to regenerate tissues and organs
- sensor systems that detect emerging disease in the body, shifting the focus of patient care from disease treatment to early detection