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July 3, 2008
Contact: Omathanu Perumal, (605) 688-4745
Ethanol
co-product may help in cancer treatments
BROOKINGS, S.D. — The key to a better drug delivery method
for cancer patients may be growing all across the Midwest, South
Dakota State University research suggests.
Assistant Professor Omathanu Perumal and his team in SDSU’s
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences have been working with submicroscopic
particles to deliver medications using the corn protein, zein.
Zein is a protein found in distillers grains, a co-product of ethanol
production. It is different from other proteins in its unique ability
to prevent water absorption. This quality of zein has found applications
ranging from food packaging to chewing gums.
Researchers at SDSU are preparing zein nanoparticles for drug delivery.
Nanoparticles are tiny particles that can only be seen with an electron
microscope. Scientists are entrapping a medication inside the nanoparticles,
which Perumal notes are approximately 500 times smaller than the
diameter of a strand of human hair.
The tiny size of these particles could lend assistance to new cancer
therapies, where one challenge is treating the cancer cells without
affecting the normal cells around it.
“We can utilize size. In general, the cancerous tissue is
physiologically different from the normal tissue,” explains
Perumal. “One of the things we see in the tumor tissue is
that the blood vessels are much ‘leakier,’ whereas normal
blood vessels don’t allow particles to be transported through
them. Therefore, if you have really small particles, they will not
go into normal tissue, but they can go into the cancerous tissue.
This is called passive targeting.”
The drug-loaded zein nanoparticles are being delivered by injection
in animal experiments, but future tests may explore oral, topical
and other delivery methods.
When outside objects, including medications, get inside the body,
the body’s immune system tries to get them out of the body.
This, in turn, affects the length of time that drugs can work in
the body before being expelled. But these nanoparticles are so tiny
that the body doesn’t recognize and excrete them.
In the technique SDSU is exploring, drugs are encapsulated within
the nanoparticles and delivered to the affected site. Perumal became
interested in using corn zein to form nanoparticles because it satisfied
a safe, biodegradable alternative to using a synthetic ingredient
and could target specific areas because of its size. The dosage
frequency is also reduced because the medication stays longer in
the body. Perumal adds that many people, because of religious reasons,
don’t take in animal proteins. That is one more reason to
develop treatment options that use plant-based zein.
The team is currently working with a drug commonly used in treating
breast cancer. They are experimenting with how much of the dose
is delivered and its effectiveness compared to traditional methods
of delivery. Perumal said the results show the treatment is meeting
expectations.
Perumal’s work has been funded by the South Dakota Corn Utilization
Council. SDSU has filed a provisional patent and the researchers
are moving forward with early pre-clinical studies using mice.
Although his team is now working with human breast cancer cells,
Perumal anticipates the possibility of expanding nanoparticle treatment
for other conditions. For those with artery blockage around the
heart, synthetic stents are inserted to help keep the artery open.
Because the stent is a foreign object, the body sometimes tries
to combat its existence, causing inflammation. By coating the stent
with drug-loaded nanoparticles, Perumal hopes that this would be
prevented.
As the research enters its third year, Perumal will continue trials
with support from the South Dakota Board of Regents.
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June
30, 2008
Contact: David Roy, (605) 690-4536
NASA grant will fund satellite data project
BROOKINGS, S.D. — A major grant from NASA will help South
Dakota State University scientists make satellite data easier to
use and access via the Internet.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded $3.29
million to a five-year project led by professor David Roy, of SDSU’s
Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence.
Roy said the project is a collaboration with the U.S. Geological
Survey, or USGS, through its Center for Earth Resources Observations
and Science near Sioux Falls. The USGS center is the main federal
repository for satellite images including those taken from Landsat.
Since 1972, Landsat satellites have been sensing dedicated images
of the Earth — now the longest such record in existence.
“This project will provide the USGS with a state-of-the-art
strategy for creating the land monitoring data sets needed by the
nation's resource managers and an exciting opportunity for evaluating
the next generation of Landsat processing and delivery systems,”
said Tom Loveland, the USGS Landsat science team leader. “The
project is timely because as of this year, Landsat images became
available free of charge.”
Roy said the proposal is to take Landsat observations every 16 days
for all the contiguous United States and Alaska for a seven-year
period and process those data so that they’re available to
the user community over the Internet in a seamless manner. Researchers
also intend to characterize the land cover from the data.
“Right now if you’re in a high school or you’re
in a geography department of a university and you want to use Landsat
data, you have to be an expert in processing and accessing the data,”
Roy said. “The point here is that the user community really
wants to be able to obtain processed Landsat data more simply.”
The project also sets out to fill in gaps in the data. Since 2003,
Roy said, there has been a problem with the Landsat sensor so that
it has been unable to record the data for about 22 percent of each
image. In addition, an average of about 35 percent of the Landsat
data is obscured by clouds. Those gaps present ongoing challenges
for users.
“We need a way of getting rid of the gaps,” Roy said.
The SDSU project will do that by using data from another satellite
system called MODIS. Roy worked extensively with that system in
a previous position at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Integrating the data from the two satellite systems can be done
but it will be complicated. Scientists will spend the first half
of the five-year period developing a prototype at SDSU’s GIS
Center of Excellence. Then they’ll move the system to the
USGS and put it into operation.
“This work over the next five years will be one of the benchmarking
exercises for perhaps working out how to do processing and distribution
for the next generation of Landsat,” Roy said.
Tom Loveland and SDSU professor Matthew Hansen are co-investigators
on the project.
“This project has the potential to fundamentally change the
way satellite data are accessed and used,” Hansen said. “Our
experience in processing and characterizing Landsat imagery will
enhance the utility of the data for a whole range of users. This
is a very exciting project.”
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June 27, 2008
Contact: Dennis Helder, (605) 688-4526
New SDSU engineering facility includes space for industry
BROOKINGS, S.D. — A new SDSU engineering facility taking shape
at the south end of campus includes a first for South Dakota State
University — a designated space for industry.
“This is a new paradigm, to actually have a facility like
this right on campus. The top floor is going to be our university-industry
interaction floor, where industry can rent space to be close to
faculty and students,” said professor Dennis Helder, head
of the SDSU Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
“If a company is trying to start up and develop a new product,
they can rent space to be with people here, or if a company is trying
to re-design a product, they can also have access to the university
environment.”
Helder said one benefit is that it would allow students to look
at companies they might want to work for after they graduate.
“I’ve had numerous companies show interest in having
that space available to them. In fact, I suspect that when we open
the doors, that space will already be full,” Helder said.
The lower floor of the new facility will be designated for SDSU’s
photovoltaics research group, which currently has lab space in three
different buildings. The group’s new laboratory spaces are
being built on bedrock, providing additional stability from vibrations.
That added stability helps in using precise techniques such as electron
microscopy, which is important in characterizing and inspecting
semiconductor devices. The new facility will also have a state-of-the-art
“clean room” where researchers can make extremely small
devices, such as nanosensors and structures that that require a
very clean environment for fabrication.
The ground floor of the new building will be devoted to computer
science and software engineering — labs, offices, and classrooms.
The second floor will hold the remaining labs, classrooms and offices
for the electrical engineering faculty.
Helder said the third-floor university-industry interaction floor
is an idea put forward by some SDSU electrical engineering alumni
as a place where companies might lease space for anywhere from six
months to several years. Ideally, Helder said, companies that use
the space might then graduate and move into new quarters, but still
close to SDSU — perhaps on the new SDSU Innovation Campus.
“This is not a competing entity with the Innovation Campus,
rather just a really small incubator-type of facility specifically
oriented toward electrical engineering hardware and software types
of activities,” Helder said. “I think it will be a real
complement to the new research park in that we hope to feed new
companies and existing companies out there once they grow and need
a little more space than we can offer.”
The building that is taking shape right now is just the east wing,
or the first phase of a two-part project. The department hopes to
add a west wing in coming years.
Currently, the building has no official name. However, expectations
are that it may be named for donors since the building is entirely
being funded by alumni gifts.
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May
30, 2008
SDSU
Innovation Campus: Epicenter for entrepreneurship, innovation, and
collaboration
BROOKINGS,
S.D. — On land where SDSU used to plant wheat and soybeans for crop
experiments, the footings of the South Dakota State University Innovation
Campus are taking root.
And
the returns won't be harvested in bushels per acre, but in jobs
created, new companies launched, and new collaborations between
business, industry, university and government.
Chief
Executive Officer and Executive Director Teresa McKnight said that's
the idea behind the SDSU Innovation Campus. It's a place designed
to help university researchers to transfer technology from the university
to private industry and government partners in order to bring those
ideas to the marketplace.
“When
you look at the creation of new companies, both national and international,
and if you look back to where these companies originated, you will
find most of the companies originated from a researcher in an academic
environment,” McKnight said.
Contractors
broke ground Nov. 15, 2007, on a 30,000-square-foot incubator and
multitenant building as the first structure on the Innovation Campus.
Phase 2 of that project, in the future, will add another 30,000
square feet to that facility, for a total of 60,000 square feet.
Meanwhile,
plans are proceeding to install infrastructure – roads, curb, gutter,
sidewalk, and utilities. By fall of 2008 or early spring of 2009,
construction is to begin on a separate Seed Technology Building
near the junction of 22nd Avenue and the U.S. Highway 14 Bypass.
It will have office and lab space totaling approximately 36,000
square feet.
McKnight
said there's a natural synergy that results when companies locate
close to universities. It makes it easier for companies to work
with researchers to test their own ideas, or in some cases, to commercialize
university scientists' ideas.
“These
companies want to be attached or want to locate next door to the
academic environment because they want to be next door to these
researchers. They also want to employ the best and brightest undergraduate
and graduate students within the university,” McKnight said.
McKnight
noted that university-related research parks also offer companies
the same sort of synergy from “clustering” companies together —
placing biotechnology, engineering, software and hardware companies
close to each other, for example.
The
benefits of University-related research parks are not just for new
start-up companies. There are times when it makes sense for an existing,
well-established company to locate within a research park.
What
might be ahead for the SDSU Innovation Campus? McKnight has a sense
of that from her previous job working at an established university-related
research park at Utah State University.
“Utah
State created a park in the mid 1980s. Thirty-eight acres of state-owned
property was set aside to develop the research park. When I left
in December of 2006, I had only 2 acres of the 38 acres left to
develop, so we purchased additional property to expand from 38 acres
to 173 acres.”
At
that time in late 2006, McKnight said, the research park had 48
companies that employed 2,103 employees, and 980 of those employees
were Utah State University students. In 2006, those companies' revenues
totaled $132 million.
“In
the state of Utah they use a multiplier of three. In other words,
if those companies brought in $132 million, they put $396 million
back into Utah's economy,” McKnight said. “University-related research
parks have a powerful impact in state economies.”
Learn
more about the SDSU Innovation Campus at its Web site, www.sdstate.edu/innovationcampus
.
May
23, 2008
SDSU
research: New tools against skin cancer
BROOKINGS,
S.D. — There's something new under the sun at South Dakota State
University: Researchers are working with molecules that protect
against skin cancer and may even help undo the sun's damage.
Distinguished
professor Chandradhar Dwivedi, head of the Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department in the College of Pharmacy at SDSU, said the work could
be commercialized within 10 years.
“We
are looking at a number of molecules that can be used with sunscreen
or without sunscreen. They are not simply blocking the radiation,
but they are reversing the damage caused by radiation,” Dwivedi
said.
Exposure
to ultraviolet light, especially in summertime, can contribute to
skin cancer. Farmers and others who spend long hours exposed to
sunlight are among those most at risk.
People
are becoming more aware of the risk of skin cancer thanks to educational
efforts. More people are wearing sunscreens, though Dwivedi cautioned
that sunscreens must be re-applied at regular intervals to provide
optimum protection.
“We
have been saying for a long time that prevention is the best medicine.
We have to make the effort to prevent the disease before we treat
it,” Dwivedi said.
Nevertheless,
some new strategies are emerging that could make sunscreens and
lotions even more effective against skin cancer. Here's a look at
SDSU's involvement:
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Alpha-santalol is the name of a molecule that is one of the main
components of oil of sandalwood. Dwivedi has made alpha-santalol
a focus of his research for nearly 15 years.
“This
product has been very effective in preventing skin cancer caused
by chemicals and by UV radiation. We have done our work in animal
models. Now it's ready to go for testing in humans,” Dwivedi said.
“Best of all, this molecule has a very nice fragrance, so people
will not mind using it. It smells nice, and at the same time it
prevents chemically caused or UV-induced skin cancer.”
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A molecule called sarcophine-diol, made from a product called sarcophine
that comes from coral found in the Red Sea, has been a focus of
SDSU research over the past five years. Sarcophine-diol is effective
in micrograms, as compared to milligrams for other chemopreventive
products. In other words it is effective in a concentration of about
one-thousandth of what the scientific literature suggests about
other chemopreventive agents used against chemically and UV-induced
skin cancer. SDSU testing has looked at two models so far and is
now expanding to other models.
Dwivedi
said collaboration with SDSU assistant professor Hesham Fahmy is
moving that work forward. Fahmy, a chemist, already has one patent
from his work with sarcophine-diol at the University of Mississippi
when he joined SDSU's College of Pharmacy in 2004. Dwivedi, Fahmy
and SDSU are now pursuing licensing of the patent based on their
collaborative research of sarcophine-diol.
Dwivedi
said SDSU research will also look at combining products that protect
against skin cancer to provide additive/synergistic effects on the
protective properties of these molecules.
SDSU
is also trying to assess whether the products' potential benefits
go beyond protection.
“We
hope to include it in sun screen or lotion. Apply it once, and you
are set for the day. We are hopeful that it will not only prevent
skin cancer but may actually treat skin cancer,” Dwivedi said.
Fahmy
explained that skin cancer occurs in two stages: initiation, when
normal skin cells turn to precancerous skin cells and remain so
for a number of years; and then promotion, a long stage of 10 to
20 years in which precancerous cells can become cancerous. There
is a chance to intervene in that second stage so that promotion
doesn't take place and the individual doesn't get skin cancer.
He
added that cancer is able to proceed by outwitting the body's mechanism
that orders programmed cell death, called apoptosis, for cells that
have been genetically damaged.
“After
initiation, you have these precancerous cells. But when you use
these compounds, they encourage these precancerous cells to commit
suicide and regenerate rather than turn cancerous,” Fahmy said.
“So in this sense they can undo some of the damage. These compounds
reinforce the programmed cell death process.”
May
22, 2008
SDSU
research: Native American tea has health benefits
BROOKINGS,
S.D. – South Dakota State University research shows that a Native
American tea used in traditional medicine can help knock out upper
respiratory infections.
In
addition the tea is rich in antioxidants that help protect against
cancer and other illnesses.
Professor
Fathi Halaweish in SDSU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
said those are among the findings from his analysis of a native
tea used by communities of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe of
the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeastern South Dakota. Though
the tea can be consumed routinely, it is also used specifically
to treat sore throats.
“I
have tried it personally. It does heal your sore throat,” Halaweish
said. “It contains some compounds that specifically target the bacteria
that are part of the upper sore throat infection. Our research supports
the long history the Native American people have for using the plant
in this way.”
Currently
the work is funded by the Big Coulee District of the Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux Tribe, Halaweish said.
Halaweish
focuses a part of his research on discovering new drugs by isolating
organic compounds from natural sources. Plants have formed the basis
for treatment of diseases in traditional medicine for thousands
of years, and continue to play a major role in the primary health
care of about 80 percent of the world's inhabitants, he notes.
“We
are looking at the potential of this Native American medicine as
a nutraceutical product,” Halaweish said.
That
means the Native American medicine would not be marketed as a drug,
but as a food product that could have medicinal or health benefits.
Halaweish
subjected the tea to a series of tests to detect any antibiotic,
anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic properties. In addition Halaweish
did toxicity studies on the cell culture to verify that the herbal
tea and the compounds it contains are safe to consume.
Halaweish
said he'll be pleased if the tea proves to be a product that tribal
members can produce and market commercially.
“I'm
very happy that this will work for the Native American communities,
that we can be a part of their vision for marketing some of their
Native American plants,” Halaweish said. “This is part of our mission
as a land-grant institution, to help out communities in our state.”
Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux Tribe community members also use other plants for medicinal
purposes. Halaweish said SDSU will continue to study the medicinal
properties of herbs used by Native Americans.
May
14, 2008
SDSU
research: Using flax against colon cancer
BROOKINGS,
S.D. — South Dakota State University studies are exploring the potential
for flax to prevent and possibly even treat colon cancer.
Distinguished professor Chandradhar Dwivedi, head of the Pharmaceutical
Sciences Department in the College of Pharmacy at SDSU, said his
work is funded partly by the North Dakota Oilseed Council.
National
Agricultural Statistics Service figures show North Dakota was the
nation's leader in flax production in 2007 by a huge margin, followed
by Montana, South Dakota, and Minnesota.
Dwivedi
said while he was growing up in northeastern India, his family grew
some flax. But it was his curiosity about a different crop, mustard,
that led to his flax research.
“In
our homes, most of the cooking was done in mustard oil. In that
area, the incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer was very
low, so in the back of our minds we had the idea for generations
that mustard must be good for you,” Dwivedi said. “When I got into
science and research, I became curious about what is in mustard.
I found out it had Omega-3 fatty acid, which makes up about 24 percent
of mustard oil.”
Unfortunately,
Dwivedi noted, the mustard used by Americans on their hot dogs and
hamburgers has the fatty acids taken out. So in looking around for
a crop more familiar to Americans that might provide similar health
benefits, Dwivedi started to work with flax. Flax is even higher
in Omega-3 fatty acids than mustard is.
“I
did research first on flaxseed oil, which has roughly 58 percent
Omega-3 fatty acids. It prevented colon cancer development in animals,”
Dwivedi said. “Then I got further into flax research and looked
at flaxseed meal. Flaxseed meal has Omega-3 fatty acids, just as
in flaxseed oil, but at the same time it has a chemical known as
lignan. Lignans also have been reported to be cancer chemopreventive.
Flaxseed meal has lignan as well as Omega-3. It's much better than
flaxseed oil.”
Dwivedi
performed experiments to evaluate whether flax prevented chemically
induced colon cancer. He also experimented by including flax in
the diets of mice that have a genetic mutation to spontaneously
develop intestinal cancer.
Dwivedi's
research showed that both flaxseed oil and flax meal did help prevent
colon cancer development.
“It's
quite remarkable. So now we are looking at the effect of the chemicals
that are present in the flax meal lignans to see if they could treat
cancer — if they could destroy the cancer cells that have been already
formed.”
Dwivedi
presented an overview of some of his flax research at the 62nd Flax
Institute of the United States, held in March in Fargo.
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