ODU professor a big fish in a teensy pond
By PHILIP WALZER, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 7, 2006
NORFOLK - For her work with particles hundreds of thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair, X. Nancy Xu has received millions of dollars in prestigious federal grants.
Xu, an associate professor in Old Dominion University's department of chemistry and biochemistry, last year won a $1.3 million award from the National Science Foundation for her research in nanoscience and nanotechnology, which deal with molecular-size substances.
Recently, she learned she had also received a $1.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. It is the scientific equivalent of an actor's winning both an Oscar and Emmy.
Richard Gregory, the dean of Old Dominion's College of Sciences, said Xu "is publishing her work in the best journals and is quickly becoming recognized as a leader both nationally and internationally" in the field.
In her office in the Alfriend Chemistry Building last week, Xu - her name is pronounced "she" - showed several test tubes containing transparent colored liquids. They hold the heart of her work.
Swarming inside: trillions of silver nanoparticles just one-billionth of a meter across.
Why silver? Because when they enter bacterial and tumor cells, they act as torches, lighting the interior, so Xu and her colleagues can trace the cell s' functions and structures through an optical microscope.
Particularly, they have focused on the role of cellular transporters - proteins present in human and bacterial cells. They act as "gatekeepers," ejecting foreign substances.
That can be trouble when they bounce out, for instance, medicine to treat diseases.
In Xu's initial research, the nanoparticles - or what she calls "probes" - were placed in the cells to observe the pumping action of the transporters. The next phase of the research could yield medical benefits.
Christopher Osgood , an associate professor of biological sciences who collaborates with Xu, said one goal is "to deliver drugs and molecules to certain target cells" without them being ejected - in other words, outfoxing the transporters.
In that way, Xu said, scientists might be able to refine and even reduce chemotherapy treatments to make them more effective and to limit their side effects.
On the topic of nanoscience and nanotechnology, Xu sounds almost like a preacher.
"Lots of scientists say, 'It's not my field,' " she said. "I think that's a mistake. It should be everybody's field. ... I really believe it's going to be the new science."
Xu, a native of China, received her doctorate from the University of Mississippi. She has been at Old Dominion since 1998 .
She works in three labs in the Alfriend Building with a team of 11 post doctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduates.
James Groves , the assistant dean for research at the University of Virginia's engineering school, also does work in nanotechnology. He organized a statewide conference last month and invited Xu to speak.
Groves called Xu "one of the leaders in the state" in the field and said the National Science Foundation grant that she received is particularly competitive.
"If you've won that," Groves said, "immediately your colleagues say, 'This person has a certain level of credibility.' She's got that, and it's well-deserved."
