A new MRI brain imaging technique developed by Northeastern researcher Srinivas Sridhar will use magnetic nanoparticles to create the first atlas of blood volume in the human brain. The results will be used to better identify and address neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and drug addiction.

Northeastern professor Srinivas Sridhar, who has led pioneering research and education initiatives in the field of nanomedicine, has received the 2016 Biomedical Engineering Society Diversity Award. “This award recognizes the work I’ve been doing for the past 10 years, a path motivated by spreading knowledge and breaking down barriers to access of knowledge,” he said.

Professors Srinivas Sridhar and Thomas Webster launched the Nanomedicine Academy of Minority Serving Institutions to bring a diverse workforce into this emerging field and cutting-edge medical advances into the world.

Northeastern physicists Swastik Kar and Srinivas Sridhar led a research team whose novel work has potential applications for improved cellphone cameras and tiny transistors that when multiplied by the billions could fuel computers.

With support from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute, Northeastern University will partner with the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center to provide co-op experiences to undergraduate students, who will receive training to study and conduct cancer nanomedicine research.

A $1.15 million grant titled “CaNCURE: Cancer Nanomedicine Co-ops for Undergraduate Research Experiences” has been funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Each year, nearly $18 bil­lion is spent on nanomed­i­cine research.

From tar­geted drug delivery mech­a­nisms to super­sen­si­tive imaging tech­niques, nan­otech­nology holds many promises for med­i­cine.

The elec­trical out­puts of the brain con­tain mas­sive amounts of infor­ma­tion that could be a pow­erful resource if we could fully tap into it.