The new St. Louis Institute for Nanomedicine held an opening ceremony recently at the Center of Research, Technology & Entrepreneurial Exchange (CORTEX) in St. Louis. The institute is a joint venture principally sponsored by the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis Community College, St. Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis to use nanotechnologies to treat human disease.

Representatives from all four educational institutions, including UMSL Chancellor Tom George, spoke at the event along with state representatives and local leaders in biotechnology.

“I’m sure the institute will burgeon into a great success and make a tremendous mark not only in the St. Louis region, but across the state and beyond,” George told the approximately 75 guests.

The institute will focus on developing and evaluating new nanotechnologies for health care, facilitating technology transfer and commercialization, establishing testing protocols, training a capable work force and providing general public education. SLIN also will pull regional resources to support joint research projects and will evolve into a nexus of regional nanomedicine research activities. It has already approved eight pilot projects, two of which will be led by UMSL researchers.

Contact Kendra Perry, director of government and business relations for the Center for Nanoscience at UMSL at perryk@umsl.edu for more information on the institute, collaborators or the pilot projects.