September 2024

A scientist pushes a small gray button on a red metal box, activating a pump that shoots clear fluids from two syringes into a small compartment just a few square centimeters in size. From there, the mixture is forced through a thin tube into a thumb-sized glass vial, where it pools with a few small bubbles.

That scientist, Caleb Anderson, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at NCI Frederick’s Chemical Biology Laboratory, was hired to solve a problem, and this machine and its contents represent the solution he has spent months designing, calibrating, and testing. The mixture contains tens of thousands of nanoparticles of a developmental novel therapeutic agent targeting mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer that affects the surface tissue lining various organs, such as the lungs.

Genevieve Burns and her teammates watched as another team’s tiny robotic car collided with their own. Then the shouting started. “Get out of our way!” came the gleefully impatient cries from both teams. “Move it, people! Move it!”