“The use of carbon nanotubes has been in the increase in recently years” said Dr. Yon Rojanasakul, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at West Virginia University, Health Sciences Center. “One of the concerns of carbon nanotubes is their potential carcinogenicity. This concern has not been well research or documented”.

Speaking to a group of NANOTEC researchers at the NANO Talk session on “Apoptosis Resistance and Carcinogenesis of Carbon Nanotubes” Dr. Yon said “there are evidence showing that chronic exposure to carbon nanotubes causes malignant transformation of human lung epithelial cells as demonstrated by their loss of contact inhibition, anchorage-independent growth, increased migration, invasion, and angiogenesis”.

Dr. Yon was recently in town accompanying Dr. Patricia Chase, Dean of Health Sciences Center at West Virginia University to sign the Affiliation Agreement Signing between NANOTEC and West Virginia University.