Leong to lead research in nanoscience at Pratt

Duke's research focus is about to become considerably smaller.

Kam Leong, a leader in the field of nanoscience at Johns Hopkins University, was hired to join the Pratt School of Engineering's biomedical engineering department. He will serve as director of the Bioengineering Initiative.

Leong, who will hold a joint appointment in Duke University Medical Center's Department of Surgery, will study nanotherapeutics-the application of devices on the scale of one billionth of a meter that treat diseases via drug, gene and immunization therapies.

"Nanoscience and nanoengineering are leading to revolutionary advances in the understanding and control of the fundamental building blocks of physical systems," Leong said in a statement. "Convergence of these disciplines with biomedical sciences has in turn led to considerable progress.... This is a fertile area where discoveries and inventions will continue to materialize."

At Johns Hopkins, Leong was a professor of biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery and also served as the program director and technical advisor to the Johns Hopkins Institute of Materials Research and Engineering at its Singapore campus for six years.

Leong expressed excitement about coming to the University, which has made encouraging interdisciplinarity one of its top priorities.

"There is a lot of room for innovative science that could have a significant impact on health care," he said. "Such investigation is inherently highly interdisciplinary and will require close collaborations. Duke is an ideal place for this as it is already very collaborative."

Leong and his team were the first scientists to produce an animal vaccination model that, when delivered with a non-viral oral agent, generates a therapeutic effect.