Mission

The ultimate mission of the Emory-Georgia Tech CCNE is to create a “discovery accelerator” embedded in a new cancer center - the Winship Cancer Institute (WCI) at Emory University. The energy for acceleration draws from basic, translational, engineering, and clinical cancer investigators from Georgia Tech and Emory who all share a common vision: to reduce timelines separating basic discovery to “proof of concept” nanotechnology investigations in earlier cancer detection, in profiling therapeutic target biomarkers on biopsies for personalized and predictive therapy, and in translating new nanoscale anticancer medicines to the clinic. Since promising advances in research are outnumbering the national training pool of young translational cancer scientists, the Emory-Georgia Tech CCNE also intends to be a new training center in both the WCI clinics and laboratories for the next generation of translational cancer scientists. Unique opportunities now exist at Emory University and Georgia Tech to develop an NCI CCNE in parallel with the full development of Emory’s NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) - so that the new culture of nanotechnology and bioengineering in cancer research can shape how cancer center faculty attack research at the bench and bedside. Concurrently, we will educate engineering scientists and help them become “oncologists” with a deeper understanding of cancer genomics, cancer biology, and unmet clinical needs.