Western Carolina University associate professor of bioinorganic chemistry Channa De Silva is currently using nanotechnology-related imaging on a project that involves making nanoparticles with hopes of assisting with cancer imaging.
“That’s the ultimate goal,” he said. “We want to be able to send a nanoparticle to cancer cells and image the cancer cell at an early stage. We make the nanoparticle and then we attach a protein or peptide so it will recognize a certain cancer cell.”
As an assistant professor of biochemistry, Western Carolina University’s Jamie Wallen believes the ability to learn research skills in both biology and chemistry gives his students an added edge when it comes to pursuing doctorates or moving onto their careers. So, it's no coincidence many of his research projects are collaborations with those from both fields.
“The beauty of collaboration is that when two or more people work together, they have different types of expertise,” Wallen said. “My goal is to work with both chemists and biologists in my research.”