Innovators join to fight cancer

April 20, 2017

Innovators work together to fight cancer

At Northwestern University we’re not just doing fundamental scientific research, we’re matching that research with clinical innovations. Researchers here are developing unimaginably small materials to provide our doctors in the clinic with new diagnostic and therapeutic tools, all in a mission to save lives. We combine our world-leading nanotechnology research with cutting-edge medical applications, always with the goal to make a difference in people’s lives.

Dr. Chad Mirkin, Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, and Dr. Leonidas Platanias, Director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, are bringing both their skills and their research enterprises together to battle many types of cancer in innovative, sub-microscopic ways.

The Collaboration

Personal Drivers

The doctors discuss what drives them in their tireless quest to fight cancer.

Saving Lives

The doctors work to translate research advances to patients.

Combining Forces

The doctors describe the power of their united enterprises.

Attracting Talent

Evanston and Chicago has become a magnet for top researchers and doctors.

Doubling Down

Northwestern's big bet more than fifteen years ago continues to pay off.

The Collaborators

Read more about Chad Mirkin and Leonidas Platanias.

Chad Mirkin

Dr. Chad Mirkin is director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology. He is one of only 15 scientists, engineers and medical doctors in the world — and the only chemist — to be elected into all three branches of the U.S. National Academies. He is celebrated for his discovery and development of Spherical Nucleic Acids and the many medical diagnostic, therapeutic, and materials applications that have derived from them, the invention of Dip-Pen Nanolithography (recognized by National Geographic as one of the top 100 scientific discoveries that changed the world) and contributions to supramolecular chemistry.

Leonidas Platanias

Leonidas Platanias, MD, PhD, is director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. His leadership over the past decade has advanced the growth and expansion of the Lurie Cancer Center's clinical and basic science research operations, including programs to translate research into personalized medicine. His recruitment of numerous outstanding faculty members has helped to further strengthen the Lurie Cancer Center's standing of international prominence.