Indian American Cancer Researcher Selected for Fulbright Award

An Indian American cancer researcher at a Florida university has been selected for a J. William Fulbright award to conduct cancer research and training in India.

 

Appu Rathinavelu, a cancer researcher at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was selected for the award July 8. He also serves as the associate dean for institutional planning and development at the campus’ College of Pharmacy and executive director at NSU’s Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State and is the government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Since its inception in 1946, the program has had more than 360,000 participants from over 180 countries.

Rathinavelu holds patents in the U.S. and Japan for discovering a small organic anti-angiogenic molecule that starves tumors and other cancer cells, preventing blood flow that would otherwise help them grow. Called JFD, the molecule is less expensive, less toxic and more effective against solid tumors, and is geared to battle breast, ovarian, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers.

He also holds a U.S. patent for a more potent molecule specifically designed to combat breast cancer.

As a recipient of the Fulbright award, Rathinavelu joins a list of people who have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors and cabinet ministers, among other high-profile positions, as well as 53 Nobel Prize winners.

Rathinavelu intends to use the grant to develop and validate new genomics-based tests that could help during the treatment of breast and prostate cancers.

During the two three-month endeavors, he also will help establish research collaborations and train graduate student researchers at VRR Institute of Biomedical Science in Chennai, an affiliate of the University of Madras, where he completed his graduate training.

Rathinavelu received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Madras in India and conducted his postdoctoral training at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. In 1992, he joined the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Southeastern University's College of Pharmacy, which merged with Nova to become Nova Southeastern University in 1994.

Source: http://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/indian-american-cancer-researcher-selected-for-fulbright-award/article_da833ae8-2991-11e5-b7f4-2bc1fc7a39fb.html