African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, said it has discovered a new drug and method for the treatment of cancer, an official said.
The President and Provost of the university, Prof Wole Soboyejo, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.
Soboyejo said the feat was achieved in the course of the ongoing research into cancer treatment.
He said the results of the research were already showing reasonable conclusions of a nanotechnology-based cancer treatment.
According to him, the research is a collaboration between the university, Sheda Science and Technology Complex and Princeton University in the United States with funding from World Bank STEP-B Projects.
Soboyejo said to devote more time to the research, the project had been moved from the United States to Abuja, Nigeria.
He said the treatment would utilise nanoparticles, which could be injected into the body through the blood vessels to the capillaries and then attach itself to the cancer cells.
The provost said the treatment would also utilise Biological Micro-electromechanical Systems (Bio-MEMS) and used for detecting and treating cancer.
Bio-MEMS refers to a special class of Micro-Electromechanical Systems where biological matter is manipulated to analyse and measure its activity under any class of scientific study.
Soboyejo said the research into the nanoparticles and Bio-MEMS was being anchored by experienced PhD students of the university.
He said, “One of the things we have done is that we have moved the centre of gravity of that research from the United States to Abuja; we currently have two PhD students that are working on nanoparticles.
“We also have two PhD students that are working on the bio-MEMS (biological micro-electromechanical systems) devices.
“We have now started the work to attach those particles to molecular recognition units which will attach only to cancer cells.
“That work now is at a stage where once the attachment is done, we are going to begin to do some cell and animal experiment.
“We are beginning to plan animal experiment and we are talking to some people who are basically helping us with setting up the animal cages to do the animal experiment.”