NSU Horizons Spring 2018

17 NSU HORIZONS Dreams a Reality system,” said Appu Rathinavelu, Ph.D., executive director of the RGI and associate dean for institutional planning and development at NSU’s College of Pharmacy. The RGI’s move into the CCR presents far-reaching oppor- tunities, according to H. Thomas Temple, M.D., senior vice president of translational research and economic develop- ment for NSU. “The RGI has integrated into a collaborative program that allows them to expand and be a bigger part of cancer care,” Temple said. “We have the NSU Cell Therapy Institute, a partnership with researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, which is looking at cancer from a cellular standpoint. And there is the AutoNation Institute for Breast and Solid Tumor Cancer Research that sees the disease from a risk and susceptibility perspective, and its focus on breast cancer. The RGI is developing strategies that straddle all of those areas.” While the institute’s focus has been on breast, prostate, ovarian, colorectal, lung, and brain cancers, Rathinavelu said that initiatives are constantly being explored. “We are working now to find new treatment strategies to work with sarcomas found in children. Much of this has been launched because of Dr. Temple’s expertise in sarcoma and bone cancer among children,” he said. Another research project Rathinavelu cited as extremely successful combines chemotherapeutic agents with dietary supplements. The invention, which works with natural compounds, such as plant- and algae-derived phycocyanin found in Florida’s Everglades, is in the process of gaining U.S. patent approval. The RGI’s attention to research advancement parallels the history of cancer research in the mid-20th century. At that time, only cancers localized enough to be completely removed by surgery were considered curable, according to the American Cancer Society. Later, radiation was used after surgery to control small tumor growths, and finally, chemotherapy was added to destroy tumor growth that could not be removed surgically. In 1971, the National Cancer Act established national cancer research centers and national cancer control programs. The “next level” step for the RGI comes with the addition of a new hospital. Hospital Corporation of America East Florida, which is relocating its community hospital to NSU’s campus, will provide the basis for a research hospital in central Broward County. Work already being done by the RGI, in collaboration with South Florida-based biotech company H2 Bio, on a lung cancer drug could move a step further with the advent of the hospital. The hospital will also help reinforce the collaboration between the RGI and Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo. “We are assisting them with their existing drugs, and, eventually, we may be able to work with them to do their clinical trials because of having the accessibility of the hospital,” said Rathinavelu. Rathinavelu and his team already have U.S. patents for two anti-angiogenic drugs that can destroy blood vessels supplying oxygen and nutrients through blood circulation to cancer tissues. Cancer treatment using these drugs, code-named F16 and JFD, will eventually shrink and destroy cancer tissues. STUDENT-CENTERED RESEARCH Having access to a world-class center for high-level research activity gives NSU students the opportunity to participate in work that may lead to a new treatment or the discovery of a new drug. Boltson, along with Christopher Garcia, a 2018 graduate of the Halmos College, and H. Thomas Temple INNOVATION AT RUMBAUGH-GOODWIN INSTITUTE