Stanford University will receive about $20 million over the next five years as one of eight Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence in the country. The Stanford center will be based at the Stanford School of Medicine.

The use of nanotechnology to fight cancer includes the possibility of inserting devices into living cancer cells to determine what occurs in them.

The Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence includes cancer centers, medical schools, schools of engineering and physical sciences, nonprofit organizations and private corporations. “It’s the team science approach,” said Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, a professor of radiology and bioengineering who directs the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford and will lead the new center.

“There is a big shift in science and medicine right now toward saying, ‘Look, we can’t just have individual labs doing their individual research,’” Gambhir said. “This is the other extreme -- a large team of a diverse group of scientists and physicians.”

The centers will be funded by the federal National Cancer Institute.

— Don Kazak