Nine Diagnostics Joins American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Entrepreneurs Program
Nine Diagnostics, a leader in AI-enabled nanosensor technology, has been selected to participate in the American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Entrepreneurs Program, a highly selective initiative designed to accelerate the most promising oncology-focused startups. This selection marks another significant milestone for Nine Diagnostics as it continues to drive innovation in cancer treatment selection, dosing, optimization, and monitoring.
Nine Diagnostics Selected for Merck Digital Sciences Studio Cohort 3
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation – March 30, 2017
2017 Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research: Development of nanosensors for in-vivo monitoring of cancer therapeutics
Freddy Nguyen, MD/PhD and Nine Diagnostics Win Novo Nordisk Golden Ticket at Pitch Event
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation – March 30, 2017
2017 Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research: Development of nanosensors for in-vivo monitoring of cancer therapeutics
Nine Diagnostics Wins Novo Nordisk Golden Ticket for LabCentral Residency
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation – March 30, 2017
2017 Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research: Development of nanosensors for in-vivo monitoring of cancer therapeutics
2017 Class of Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation announced today its 2017 class of Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows, individuals who underscore the Foundation’s mission of supporting basic research in the chemistry and life sciences. They were selected after a three-part review led by a panel of scientific experts.
The Foundation will award more than $2.6 million in funding for 20 exceptional research fellows from 13 universities
MIT News: Four from MIT named 2017 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows
MIT News – Melanie Miller Kaufman – Department of Chemical Engineering – April 24, 2017
Chemical engineering and chemistry postdocs “expected to become the next generation of leaders and innovators in science, engineering, and technology.”
Danielle Mai and Freddy Nguyen from the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, along with Liela Bayeh and Julianne Troiano of the Department of Chemistry, were awarded 2017 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowships. The two-year, competitive program will support each researcher’s continuing work in their corresponding labs.
Freddy Nguyen, a member of the Michael Strano lab, is working to develop nanoscale molecular sensors for probing cancer tumors and their microenvironments. He would like to implant nanosensors inside tumors to measure their response, at the molecular level, to various cancer therapies such as chemotherapeutics and radiation therapy. In 2016, he earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and in 2015 received a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
2017 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation – March 30, 2017
2017 Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research: Development of nanosensors for in-vivo monitoring of cancer therapeutics
Freddy Nguyen Chosen for an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows Award
2015 PhD graduate awarded Beckman Postdoc Fellowship – March 30, 2017
Congratulations to Freddy Nguyen, a 2015 Illinois Chemistry PhD graduate, who was chosen for a prestigious Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows Award. Nguyen is a postdoctoral researcher at MIT working on development of nanosensors for in vivomonitoring of cancer therapeutics.
According to Nguyen, “The research I am planning to pursue is focused on the development of nanoscale molecular sensors for probing the tumor and its microenvironment. More specifically, we would like to implant our nanosensors inside tumors to to measure their response at the molecular level to various cancer therapies such as chemotherapeutics and radiation therapy. Our nanosensors are detected using near-infrared fluorescence and Raman spectroscopic techniques allowing us to probe the sensors from a distance using near-infrared light and are not susceptible to photobleaching effects unlike typical endogenous and exogenous fluorophores. These unique features of our nanosensors can allow us with a method to dynamically probe the tumor microenvironment in real-time and in-vivo. Patients currently have to wait until there are measurable size changes on CT or MRI scans or must undergo biopsies of the tumor to determine molecular changes in response to treatment. Having access to that molecularinformation within the first few days of treatment will be a tremendous step forward indetermining whether cancer treatments are working for each patient at a much earlier timeframe than the current standard of care. This allows for the patient and physician to morepromptly manage the treatment of their cancer.”
American Physician Scientists Association Directors’ Award 2014
American Physician Scientists Association – April 15, 2014
The Directors’ Award was given to Freddy Nguyen, founder of the American Physician Scientists Association, in recognition of his innumerable contributions to APSA since the organization’s initiation. To honor Freddy’s legacy, the Board of Directors will present the Founder’s Award (successor to the Directors’ Award) to recognize extraordinary and dedicated service to APSA. Freddy will play a role in selecting the recipient of that honor. Read below for Freddy’s reflections on a decade of APSA.
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs – Breast Cancer Research Program
Freddy Nguyen, an M.D./Ph.D. student in Professor Stephen Boppart’s Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory, was awarded an FY07 BCRP
Predoctoral Traineeship Award to optimize the use of an innovative imaging technology, magnetomotive optical coherence tomography (MM-OCT), which can provide real-time microscopic analysis of tumor
cells. Specifically, Mr. Nguyen’s project is to develop and optimize protein microspheres as a multimodal contrast agent to be used in conjunction with MM-OCT.
Mr. Nguyen has focused on encapsulating iron oxide nanoparticles and fluorescent dyes into the inner cores of modified protein microspheres capable of specifically targeting tumor neovessels, which are the blood vessels that tumors form to support their rapid growth. Tumor neovessel specificity was achieved by coating the microspheres with an arginine-glycine-asparatate (RGD) peptide, which binds to the αvβ3 integrin receptor on the surface of tumor neovessel endothelial cells. Preliminary studies confirmed that the microspheres preferentially bind to the tumor cells because they overexpress αvβ3 integrins in vitro. The microspheres accumulated in the neoves- sels at the tumor sites when injected into tumor-bearing rats. Mr. Nguyen plans to further pur- sue the cancer-specific targeting of the protein microspheres as a potential diagnostic contrast agent as well as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of breast cancer.