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Johns Hopkins Researcher Awarded $1 Million to Study Use of Nanoparticles in Cancer Immunotherapy - 02/20/2015

Johns Hopkins Researcher Awarded $1 Million to Study Use of Nanoparticles in Cancer Immunotherapy

Release Date: February 20, 2015
Robert Ivkov
Robert Ivkov
Robert Ivkov, Ph.D., an assistant professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a member of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, has been awarded a three-year grant totaling $1,005,000 by the Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis Foundation for Health and Policy to develop nanoparticles — microscopic objects too tiny to see with the naked eye — that may help the body’s immune system recognize breast cancer cells.  
 
Ivkov says his idea will combine two fields of cancer research: nanotechnology and the growing field of immuno-oncology, which has been bolstered recently by promising research and the approval of several new anticancer drugs. His goal, he says, is to test nanoparticle technologies in mice to find ways to coax immune cells to recognize and attack breast cancer cells as a way to treat metastatic breast cancer. 
 
“The foundation is pleased to support the exciting research of Dr. Ivkov,” says Theodore Giovanis, the foundation’s president. “His examination of nanotechnology-based immune therapy is innovative, and we believe it will greatly benefit the field of cancer research.”
 
The Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis Foundation for Health and Policy funds research, white papers and other projects aimed at cost reduction, expanding access and improving quality of health care.