Students working in Narayan Hosmane’s lab get hands-on experience and a new title: ‘cancer researcher’
Good Chemistry By Tom Parisi The adjacent laboratories on the third floor of Faraday Hall are cluttered with flasks, beakers, vials, nozzles, funnels, old centrifuges and newer high tech, digital-dial equipment. They are typical college-level chemistry labs, but as Lauren Kuta will tell you, what happens here is far from ordinary. Kuta, of Carol Stream, is a junior at NIU, yet she works alongside graduate students and post-docs. She takes direction from the professor who taught her introductory chemistry course. At the course’s end, he invited her to become part of his research team. The invitation was an honor by any measure. Just about every student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry knows, or knows of, Professor Narayan Hosmane. Good-humored and gregarious, you can often hear him coming down the hall. And he’s the type of professor who students don’t forget. At the start of some classes and to the delight of students, Hosmane pays homage to the periodic table, recognizing its role in forming the basis of nature. Even in large lecture halls, he knows many students by name. His lessons spark both laughter and learning, and he encourages students to call him on his cell phone with their questions.
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“Dr. Hosmane’s work is aimed at specifically targeting cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.” Dr. Sajit Bux board-certified urologist, DeKalb Clinic
The amiable professor also happens to be world-renowned in his field of research, collaborating with top scientists across the globe, including a Nobel Prize winner. And it is in his Faraday Hall laboratories where he does his best work—not only in making new and interesting compounds but also in creating young and talented scientists. Over the years, scores of students have worked in Hosmane’s labs, and currently more than a dozen work in his research group. This past fall they began a project that allows even the least experienced contributors to call themselves bonafide cancer researchers. “It’s funny, because you don’t really realize the extent of what we’re doing,” says Kuta, 28, a former U.S. Navy cryptologist who served in the Middle East and now is studying biological sciences. She spends so much time in Hosmane’s labs that she has compiled an instructional booklet of do’s and don’ts for future students. “It’s really amazing because there are times when I think that it just sounds so cool to be working on cancer research,” Kuta says. “But it’s been such a big learning process. I end up doing a lot of research on my own to try to keep up.” Collaborating with Kishwaukee Hospital Hosmane’s expertise is in “boron chemistry,” and his work has potential applications in a wide range of areas—from the creation of improved catalysts for making superior plastics to the development of boron-based nanoparticles and nanotubes for use in spaceships. But perhaps his most intriguing project has students in his lab helping to investigate a potential treatment for bladder and prostate cancers. The research group is collaborating with Kishwaukee Community Hospital and Dr. Sajit Bux, a board-certified urologist at DeKalb Clinic and member of the hospital medical staff. A trust established years ago at the National Bank and Trust Company in Sycamore for the purpose of community cancer research is funding the initial phase of the project.
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No patients are directly involved. Rather, the scientists are working with cancerous tissue samples, exploring the viability of using boron drugs in combination with a radiation treatment. “The current prostate cancer treatments—whether surgery, radiation or seed implants—are equally effective in curing cancer. But all can have significant side effects,” Bux says. “Dr. Hosmane’s work is aimed at specifically targeting cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue,” he adds. “It would be a significant breakthrough in treatment, helping patients to avoid complications and minimize or eliminate the side effects.” Learning by doing The student researchers are helping to synthesize new boron drugs and inject the drugs into cancerous tissue samples. Students working with Biological Sciences Professor Linda Yasui then help radiate the tissue with neutrons at the NIU Institute for Neutron Therapy at Fermilab. The interaction between the boron and the radiation beam is designed to kill the boron-injected cancer cells without harming healthy cells. Known as Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), this process has shown some promising results with certain cancers in an initial clinical trial in Japan, Hosmane says. He has been working for well over a decade to advance BNCT.
“This will be a unique study because no one has explored the use of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy with bladder or prostate cancer,” Hosmane says. “We’d like to show BNCT can be applicable in other types of cancer.” The work has students excited. “It’s amazing how boron is able to treat a cancerous tissue. It can actually get down to the roots and tips of the cancer cells,” says Kate Krise, a 23-year-old senior honors student who plans to go on to medical school. Krise is helping research scientists in Hosmane’s lab who are seeking to develop water-soluble boron-nitride nanotubes. If successful, the nanotubes would be used to transport drugs directly into cancerous cells. “Most of the people in this lab have their Ph.D.’s, so I’m learning a lot of interesting things that I typically wouldn’t be privy to as an undergraduate,” says Krise, a native of Freeport. “I have to write lab reports for Dr. Hosmane, so it’s improving my scientific writing, and we may also be presenting our findings at seminars, which would provide me with publicspeaking opportunities. I feel like this experience is opening so many doors.” Genuine concern for students Hosmane has received numerous international honors and fellowships for his research—including the Humboldt Research Award for lifelong achievement from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. In 2008, he was awarded one of three inaugural Board of Trustees Professorships, NIU’s top honor for excellence in teaching, research and outreach. Despite his honors and level of expertise, Hosmane still chooses to teach an introductory course in chemistry. “These students don’t know much about chemistry, and I can really bring them from the bottom all the way up,” he says. “I have the satisfaction of knowing that they learned from me.” He’s a man who cares for students as he would his own children. “My parents came (to NIU) for my birthday,” Krise recalls. “Dr. Hosmane sat down with them in his office, and they talked for at least an hour. He kept telling my parents I need to sleep more.” Lauren Kuta, the U.S. Navy veteran, says working with Hosmane’s research group helped her become acclimated to university life and boost her self-confidence. “Being 28 years old and in college with people younger than me, I initially felt out of place after getting out of the military,” Kuta says. “This helped me find my place in college. I don’t feel like just an average student.”
‘Role model’ Because Hosmane is frequently invited overseas to give presentations on his work, he also is able to attract talented graduate student researchers from other countries. While studying at a university in his native India, Barada Dash first heard Hosmane speak on his boron chemistry research. Dash later decided to pursue his Ph.D. at NIU, where he has worked with Hosmane for the past four years. “I’ve never seen this kind of professor, who’s so enthusiastic about research and teaching,” the 31-year-old Dash says. “He’s a role model for me. Dr. Hosmane has accomplished so much in his lifetime. It’s encouragement for all of us.” Over the years, Hosmane has directed the research of 45 post-doctoral fellows, nine Ph.D. students, 14 master’s students, 60 undergraduates and 12 high school students. On his academic website, he lists as “points of pride” the accomplishments of four of his former students. They have gone on to achieve international acclaim of their own. Chemistry is a worldview for this man who pays homage to the periodic table. He is intent on sharing its beauty with students and teaching them to unlock its capabilities. “In my view, both researching and teaching are integral parts of the learning process,” Hosmane says. “The training of students and their preparation for the real world, I think that is my real accomplishment.” N
Students gain valuable lab experience as members of Narayan Hosmane’s research team. The world-renowned professor, whose field of expertise is “ boron chemistry,” provides research opportunities for students that have applications in a wide range of areas, including potential treatment for bladder and prostate cancers. Below: Undergraduate researchers Lauren Kuta (left) and Kate Krise with Professor Hosmane. Opposite, top and bottom: Kate Krise and Barada Dash.
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