Luo

Cornell researcher Dan Luo, whose work in nucleic acid engineering is changing the way scientists look at DNA, has garnered a prestigious 2006 Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), recognizing his research. Luo, assistant professor of biological and environmental engineering, will use the award to fund education.

In addition, a company that Luo co-founded, DNANO Systems, has won a prize from Purdue University for its life sciences-related business plan.

The five-year, $400,000 Early Career grant rewards young teacher-scholars, and most of Luo's grant will fund one graduate and one undergraduate student to work with him on nucleic acid engineering research. The balance will fund materials and supplies as well as travel costs for the students to attend professional conferences.

Luo's research centers around integrating DNA into biomaterials by using DNA to construct new materials and nanodevices. His work, he explains, deviates from the traditional concept of DNA as a genetic material, and instead uses DNA as a generic building block for the construction of biomaterials with biomedical and biotechnical applications.

In the September issue of Nature Materials, for example, Luo described the synthesis of a hydrogel, made purely from DNA, that holds promise of being a drug- delivery method.

DNANO Systems, an Ithaca company that commercializes Luo's research, was the second-place finisher in the Purdue University Life Sciences Business Plan Competition. Luo co-founded DNANO Systems with help from the Center for Life Science Enterprises at Cornell, which is supported by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR). The prize carries a $20,000 cash award for the company, plus $8,000 for in-kind legal and business services.

Last year DNANO Systems received $500,000 in seed money from NYSTAR. The company will be among those housed in the business incubator in the Life Sciences Technology Building, which is now rising on the central Cornell campus.