Health + Medicine
Rapid advances in health-related nanoscience are creating a new frontier for precision medicine. Lensless microscopy, on-chip diagnostic sensors and screening devices, nanoparticle drug delivery methods, targeted antibiotics and cancer drugs, and high-throughput drug discovery are at the forefront of translating interdisciplinary research into individualized treatments. Diverse teams of CNSI nanoscientists are pursuing answers to the most serious and perplexing medical questions in illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and autism; and bacterial behaviors and functions that have come into recent focus with the explosion of knowledge on the importance of the human body’s unseen bacterial universe – the microbiome. CNSI’s collaborative atmosphere encourages medical researchers to engage with engineers, chemists, and physicists to address complex problems by leveraging pooled talent and resources. The proximity of CNSI to UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research encourages powerful collaborations among world-class scientists.


Nanomedicines for Cancer
CNSI scientists are developing new techniques to utilize nanotechnology for targeted deliver of therapeutic drugs tuned to specifically target cancer sites in the body. For example, Andre Nel and colleagues’s work in pancreatic cancer has led to the development and preclinical testing of a smart nanocarrier, the “silicasome”, which is capable of delivering optimal amounts of chemotherapeutic agents directly to tumors with decreased side effects and increased efficacy. The approach is remarkably clever and powerful, and it has attracted significant attention in the field as well as the interest of investors. This has led to the recent launch of our newest startup company, Westwood Biosciences Inc., which is focused on bringing silicasome technology to the clinic as rapidly as possible, and on expanding its applications to numerous other types of cancer.
Precision Antibiotics
Research in the development of precision antiobiotics, led by CNSI Director Jeff F. Miller, has resulted in the creation of a “programmable” nanoparticle-based platform for rapidly producing precision antibiotics that can kill bacterial pathogens that are resistant to current drugs. Last August, the US had its first case of a bacterial infection that was resistant to every available antibiotic. This is a global trend that is increasing unabated, and both big and small pharma are failing to innovate. Our technology is the product of an integrated approach involving CNSI electron imaging and nanoengineering capabilities, and it represents a paradigm shift in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.
Stem Cell Nanomedicine
The goal of our newest CNSI initiative, conducted in partnership with the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Center, is to create nanotechnologies and nanomaterials for manipulating stem cell development and guiding tissue regeneration. Using a modest amount of seed money we have launched a multidisciplinary team to work on a new scaffold designed to accelerate healing after acute cardiac injury, in a manner that minimizes scarring and regenerates healthy heart tissue. This is one of several efforts we hope to launch that leverages synergy between stem cell medicine and nanosciences to deliver minimally invasive therapies for currently intractable diseases.
Recent Health + Medicine News
June 21, 2022 | UCLA Engineering Professor Yuzhang Li Receives DOE Early Career Research Award for New Techniques to Study Batteries
Yuzhang Li, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received an Early Career Research Award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The award will support his research on discovering the...
June 16, 2022 | UCLA Engineers Create Single-Step, All-in-One 3D Printing Method to Make Robotic Materials
A team of UCLA engineers and their colleagues have developed a new design strategy and 3D printing technique to build robots in one single step. A study that outlined the advance, along with the construction and demonstration of an assortment of tiny robots that walk,...
June 16, 2022 | Chemistry & Biochemistry Annual Report 2022 highlights several CNSI members
UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry recently highlighted the remarkable research and faculty in their department, including the work of several CNSI members. The annual report provides a snapshot of the research innovations and remarkable individuals who are impacting the...
May 27, 2022 | All-optical computation of a group of transformations using a polarization-encoded diffractive network
In a recent study published in Light: Science and Applications, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have demonstrated a polarization-encoded diffractive optical processor to enable high-speed, low-power computation of multiple linear...
May 25, 2022 | Lactation Lab receives FDA Breakthrough Device designation for breast-milk-testing device that allows mothers to test for key nutritional elements in their milk
This first-of-its-kind breast-milk(point of care)-test allows mothers to test for key macronutrients (fat, protein, carbohydrates and adjust their nutritional intake accordingly. The test was developed for use in the NICU, hospital clinics, milk banks and home use.
May 20, 2022 | All-optical Phase Recovery and Quantitative Phase Imaging Performed Instantly Without a Computer
In a new research paper published in Advanced Optical Materials, a team of optical engineers, led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at the University of California, Los...
May 19, 2022 | Scientists devise method to prevent deadly hospital infections without antibiotics
A hospital or medical clinic might be the last place you’d expect to pick up a nasty infection, but approximately 1.7 million Americans do each year, resulting in nearly 100,000 deaths from infection-related complications and roughly $30 billion in direct medical...
May 4, 2022 | UCLA Engineers Develop Phage Therapy to Kill Bacteria
Bacterial infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to antibiotic resistance built up by bacteria as they evolve and adapt to medication. UCLA biomolecular engineers and their colleagues are developing an alternative therapy to treat wound infections...
May 3, 2022 | UCLA researchers develop non-destructive image processing method for advanced cancer research
A team led by Professor Shimon Weiss and former PhD student Arkaprabha Basu has developed an image processing technique, SPOCC, which quantifies cytoskeletal properties using microscopic images. UCLA researchers develop non-destructive...