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T M C » P U L S E | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 33 The writing was on the wall. Cerulean's nanoparticle assets were sold off to Novartis and the rest of the company merged with Daré Bioscience. But many NanoGagliato panel- ists agreed that failures in the field should serve as cautionary tales to help other scientific endeavors succeed. "We should have a little more enthusiasm for publishing failures because it would help us all to learn more," said John Cooke, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Cardiovascular Regeneration in the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center. "It is from the failures that we learn." NanoFuture Joy Wolfram, Ph.D., principle inves- tigator in the Nanomedicine and Extracellular Vesicles Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville, Florida campus, identified four promising research initiatives in nanotechnology. In the field of nanomedicine, the liver is the enemy. Between 30 to 99 percent of drug-loaded nanopar- ticles injected into the blood accu- mulate in the liver because the body identifies nanoparticles as a threat. As a result, only a fraction of the nanoparticles actually make it to the tumor site. "One promising strategy is to temporarily block the liver from eating nanoparticles so we can get more to the tumor," Wolfram said. Another research area focuses on the biological nanoparticles— called extracellular vesicles (EVs)— that cells secrete. EVs allow cells to communicate with each other by sending "text messages" of the body, Wolfram explained. If scientists are able to gain a better understanding of EVs, they can leverage the cell's communication system and load EVs onto therapeutic agents to disseminate from cell to cell. Scientists are also developing how nanoparticles change in space and time in an effort to optimize therapies. Ultimately, the success of nano- medicine will be its disappearance, Ferrari said. (continued) • Houston area's only MPH program in healthcare management • One of only !ve MPH programs in healthcare management in the nation accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) • Located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center • Diverse faculty includes researchers, consultants, former executives and current administrators of major healthcare organizations • Offers degree and certi!cate programs in the fast-growing !eld of healthcare management Housed in UTHealth School of Public Health, the George McMillan Fleming Center for Healthcare Management provides rigorous training in healthcare management paired with a one-of-a-kind focus on population health. Learn more about our programs go.uth.edu/!emingcenter L E A R N F R O M L E A D E R S I N H E A LT H C A R E M A N A G E M E N T While morning panel discussions took place in a conference room in Gagliato, afternoon sessions were held in Lido San Domenico, a beachside bar and restaurant that overlooks the Ionian Sea. diagnostic tools to optimize nanoparticle therapy by deter- mining which patient populations would benefit and how to customize the size and shape of nanoparticles to the individual. Finally, scientists are studying