Abilene Christian University receives $300,000 grant for lab research
ABILENE, Texas — For the second year in a row, Abilene Christian University is receiving an infrastructure grant from the Department of Energy. The $300,000 grant helps fund their advanced research center.
Nuclear Energy Experimental Testing Lab Manager Rusty Towell says much of their research goes into finding cleaner energy that can help treat people.
“Doctors use experimental treatment called targeted output therapy,” he said. “You take a medical isotope, you attach it to an antibody, the antibody takes that radioactive isotope to the cancer cell where it kills the cancer cell without damaging the healthy tissue around it. So especially when you have cancer that spread throughout the whole body, this is a great treatment for it. In fact, doctors call this smart bombs for cancer.”
Towell says another lab is in the works for ACU, and with the equipment they purchased with the previous grant, he says they’re doing some groundbreaking work.
“Traditional types of therapy, whether it's chemical chemotherapy or radiation based, they end up doing a lot of damage,” he said. “So, the beauty of this being a targeted treatment is you have a mechanism of going in and attacking the cancer and not hurting the healthy tissue around it.”
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