Kattesh Katti awarded prestigious international recognition

Germany’s famed Gauss Professorship awarded for work in cancer and nanotechnology

One of the most famous universities in Europe is bestowing a prestigious honor on University of Missouri-Columbia professor of Radiology and Physics Kattesh V. Katti. The Academy of Science in Göttingen, Germany is awarding the 2005-06 Gauss Professorship to Katti.

"I consider the Gauss Professorship the highest honor for me, our department and the University of Missouri-Columbia," Katti said. "This award is usually given to mathematicians or physicists."

Next year, Katti will spend two months at the renowned University of Göttingen, founded in Germany in 1737, delivering lectures on cancer nanotechnology, therapy and diagnosis.

The Gauss Professorship is named in honor of Carl Fiedrich Gauss (1777-1855), the eminent mathematician noted for his many contributions to physics, particularly in the study of electromagnetism. The internationally renowned Gauss Professorship aims to enrich and cultivate the exchange of scientific ideas. It is awarded annually to a leading scientist in one of Gauss’ fields of interest, and nominations come from across the globe. In the 20th century, the University of Göttingen physics faculty included several Nobel Prize winners who were responsible for some of the most important discoveries and developments in modern physics.

Recently, Katti was awarded more than $3 million to lead an interdisciplinary 12-person team to use innovative nanomedicine techniques to combat prostate cancer. The grant, from the National Institutes of Health, recognized his nanotechnological breakthroughs. He is the director of MU’s Nanoparticle Production Core Facility, where metallic nanoparticles are made especially for medical applications in a patented process.

Katti is a principal inventor on 14 patents in the chemical, biological, optical and nanotechnological aspects of cancer diagnostic/therapeutic agents and sensors. He has written more than 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He also is the senior research scientist at MU’s Research Reactor.

Katti received his doctorate in 1984 from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. He was a Research Fellow with Atomic Energy, India, and an Alexander von Humboldt Scholar from 1985 to 1987 at the University of Göttingen, Germany. He joined the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1990.

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Links:

Kattesh Katti
Department of Physics and Astronomy

Department of Radiology
MU Center for Radiological Research  

Academy of Science in Göttingen
University of Göttingen

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