UI-University of Karachi jointly hold Nanomedicine Symposium and Workshop

As part of their US-Pakistan scientific exchange Nanomedicine for Cancer Research Project, the University of Illinois and the University of Karachi recently held a joint Nanomedicine Symposium and Workshop at the University of Karachi International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS). 

The workshop was funded by the USAID and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, and sponsored by the University of Illinois Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST). 

“It was probably the first time that a Nanomedicine workshop was held in Pakistan, bringing together faculty and graduate students from the U.S. and Pakistan," said CNST Associate Director Irfan Ahmad, symposium co-chair, who also is a research faculty at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and a core faculty member at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (CSAMES) at Illinois.

“Over the last three years, we have made progress on analyzing plant extracts provided by the University of Karachi and help develop local capabilities in nanoparticles and biophotonic crystal sensors”, said Kenneth Watkin, professor at the College of Applied Health Sciences at Illinois who also serves as lead principal investigator on the U.S. side of the project.

Munir Nayfeh, a professor of physics at Illinois, was the keynote speaker at the symposium. Plenary session talks were also given by Ahmad and Bulent Aydogan, professor of medicine at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago. U of I faculty members professors Rashid Bashir, Brian Cunningham, Logan Liu, and Kenneth Watkin delivered lectures via remote-link, alongwith Piotr Grodzinski, director of Cancer Nanotechnology Programs at the National Cancer Institute.

With more than 120 attendees from several countries, the symposium was a good starting point for initiating nanomedicine and biomedical applications research in Pakistan, according to Kelly Robbins, program manager at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Graduate students from Illinois and Johns Hopkins also presented posters, along with those from Pakistani institutions.

The symposium was co-sponsored by the  University of Illiniois Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, the Center for Health, Aging, and Disability, the Pakistani Graduate Students Association (PGSA), and others.
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Contact: Irfan Ahmad, Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, 217/ 333-2015.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.