USF recently held a big meeting about exploring the very small.

In November, the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy hosted the 12^th annual NanoFlorida International Conference on the USF campus.  The three-day conference, which included keynote addresses by USF President Steven Currall and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, was centered around future developments in the field of nanotechnology.

Participants pose for a group photo during the NanoFlorida International Conference.

“Nanotechnology is to work in the smallest scale possible, called nanoscale,” explained USF Health professor Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, director of the Center for Education and Research in Nanobioengineering and conference chair of the International Academy of Nanotechnology.

For comparison, one nanometer is one-millionth the diameter of single strand of human hair, Dr. Mohapatra said.

USF President Steven Currall gave a keynote address during the NanoFlorida International Conference in the Marshall Center on USF campus.

Nanotechnology is being studied in a wide range of sciences, including chemistry, engineering and medicine. The technology is already being used in many industries and products people use every day. For example, nanotechnology has helped reduce the size of cell phones from the unwieldy devices of yesteryear to the advanced computers that now fit in your pocket.

But it’s not just consumer goods where nanotechnology is making a difference. USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy is looking at how the technology can help better deliver medication to patients.

“The whole notion of pharmaceutical nanotechnology is to take a molecule and make it even smaller so we can deliver (medicines) into parts of the body that normally we can’t get into,” said Kevin Sneed, PharmD, FNAP, FNPHA. Dr. Sneed is senior associate vice president, USF Health and dean of the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy.

Kevin Sneed, PharmD, FNAP, FNPHA, talks to dignitaries during the NanoFlorida International Conference. Dr. Sneed is senior associate vice president, USF Health and dean of the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy.

For instance, researchers are studying how nanotechnology can assist the treatment of brain cancers and brain disorders.

“Lots of medications cannot get into the brain when taken orally or otherwise,” Dr. Sneed said, “By making them smaller, now we can transport them into the brain.”

The Taneja College of Pharmacy is embracing pharmaceutical nanotechnology by offering a master’s in science degree in pharmaceutical nanotechnology – the first such degree in the state of Florida.

“We had an opportunity to build a pharmaceutical or drug delivery program,” Dr. Sneed said. “Nanotechnology was very futuristic, and we wanted to be a very futuristic, very innovative, very transformative pharmacy program.”

About 50 students are currently enrolled in the pharmaceutical nanotechnology degree program.

Shyam Mohapatra, Distinguished USF Health Professor, Director of Center for Education and Research in Nanobioengineering in the Morsani College of Medicine and Associate Dean Graduate Program in the Tanjea College of Pharmacy and Conference Chair of the International Academy of Nanotechnology, opens the NanoFlorida International Conference.

During the NanoFlorida International Conference, participants attended a number of plenary sessions discussing advances in nanotechnology and its use, and students from USF and other major colleges presented 138 research posters for judging.

Sonali Kannaujia (left) and Liguan Li, a graduate student and a PhD candidate both studying electrical engineering, look at their poster presentation before the start of judging during the NanoFlorida International Conference. The USF students created a Wireless Interrogated MEMS Capacitive Intraocular Pressure Sensors to help with the treatment of Glaucoma.

The NanoFlorida International Conference is organized by the Florida Association for Nanotechnology, a society composed of basic and translational nano-bio technologists who use a variety of nanoscale sciences and technologies to better understand the way the nano-bio systems function.

Video, photos and article by Allison Long, USF Health Communications & Marketing

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAK-1kfJPV8

On Thursday Oct. 13, USF Health celebrated 10 years of presence at the City of Knowledge, Panama. The event aimed to emphasize the common vision shared by USF Health leadership and many of the academic and research partners in Panama; it also featured a keynote address by guest professor Anne Firth Murray of Stanford University, human rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Dr. Murray spoke eloquently about the economic impact of investing in women´s health and education across the life span.

Donna Petersen, ScD, senior associate vice president of USF Health, dean of the College of Public Health (COPH) and one of the founders of the Panama program, talked about how, through the recommendation of COPH alumna Dr. Arlene Calvo, she came to Panama and “was immediately inspired by the impact that public health had on the construction of the Panama Canal, Panama´s biodiversity, and more importantly the enthusiasm of those Panamanian visionaries, Dr. Rodrigo Tarté and Prof. Jorge Arosemena, who were starting to develop the City of Knowledge concept. That inspiration, turned into motivation to establish a USF presence with a global health focus at the City of Knowledge, the old U.S. Clayton Military Base, now transformed into a research and innovation park, a campus for foreign universities and the home of many international NGOs.

In his remarks, Charles Lockwood, MD, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, mentioned the “increased collaboration in education, research and clinical care between USF faculty and students and their counterparts in Panama as well as health professional and organizations across the Americas.” He then thanked the Panamanian partners for their continued support to help provide “research opportunities for more than 1,100 undergraduate and graduate students and medical residents as well as for over 175 faculty members from the USF and other U.S. institutions.”

USF Health Panama´s research and academic initiatives have trained more than 2,000 health professionals and field workers throughout Panama and the Latin American region.

Through the USF Health Panama Program, students across a variety of disciplines gain hands-on experience in rural or indigenous communities throughout Panama and conduct innovative research to complete their master’s and doctoral theses. They work alongside Panamanian physicians and health care workers in public and private hospitals, complete field studies in cooperation with humanitarian agencies, intern with business and industry leaders, and participate in service missions across the Panama region. USF faculty, affiliate faculty and alumni in Panama engage in cutting-edge research and health education grant projects on HIV/AIDS, Zika virus, malaria, influenza, dengue, domestic violence, cervical cancer, nutrition, diabetes, data systems, and policy analysis. Dr. Lockwood thanked Dr. Nestor Sosa, director of the Gorgas Memorial Research Institute for Health Studies (ICGES), for rich discussions on topics of joint interest and mentioned his interest in working more on vaccine development and other research areas of joint interest.

During the evening reception, Dr. Anne Debaldo was recognized for her instrumental role in the development of the Health and Education International Foundation in Panama. In addition, partner institutions such as the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies (ICGES), the National Secretariat of Science Technology and Innovation (SENACYT), INDICASAT, the City of Knowledge and the University of Panamá were specially honored for their years of joint collaboration and support.

The Ministry of Health, the National Obudsman’s (Defensoría del Pueblo) office, Vital Voices, the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC), Centauri Technologies, Forest Finance, the National Association against Cancer (ANCEC), PROBISIDA Foundation, UNICEF, The Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO), as well as faculty from the Oncological Institute (Instituto Oncológico), the Children´s Hospital (Hospital del Niño), the Social Security Hospitals , the Santo Tomás Hospital and Regional Health Centers were also recognized.

The Health and Education International Foundation Board members were present at the event, including President- Roberta Burford, JD, Vice-President Joann Strobbe, MsEd, Greg Vannette, CPA, Cristienn Joudaane, MBA, MS, Jay Evans, MBA, MPH, Lynette Menezes, PhD and Constance Visovsky, PhD, and the USF Health Panama team members Arlene Calvo, PhD, MPH; Aracely Quintero, BS; Jeanette Galvez, BS; Gladys Bernett, MBA, MHA, and alumni Morgan Hess Holtz, MS and Arturo Rebollón, MD, were also thanked for their dedication in advancing the USF’s mission in Panama.

Strong academic collaboration was the main highlight of the evening. There was potential and enthusiasm to keep working together on initiatives aimed at improving the health, education and quality of life of our communities, our hemisphere and the world.

Story by Gladys Bernett, video by Sandra C. Roa/ University Communications and Marketing, photos by Tarina Rodriguez