Contact: Amy Gilliam

David Nima Meigooni

The National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors is a museum of young American inventors whose ideas hold promise to a positive impact on society. Its purpose is to preserve and promote great inventions produced by America’s youth. The National Gallery inducts six young students in grades K-12 annually. In this way, the National Gallery is taking the great ideas of America's youth and enshrining them forever.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 3, 2005) -- The University of Kentucky's efforts to mentor a young man have paid off in a national award. David Nima Meigooni, a University of Louisville freshman with a first-semester-junior standing in molecular biology, recently was selected for induction into the National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors™ for his research: A Novel Method for Enhancing Prostate Cancer Radiosensitization by Natural Compound Curcumin. The research was conducted during his senior year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, and Meigooni was mentored through the University of Kentucky Department of Radiation Medicine.

His entry was chosen for the prestigious honor from a large group of highly qualified applicants. He will receive a $5,000 U.S. Series EE Savings Bond, a Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation award, a compass medallion, and a piece of original art at the National Gallery Induction weekend April 28-May 1 in Akron, Ohio.

Meigooni’s research investigated the application of curcumin (a natural compound derived from the plant curcuma longa—it is the molecular form of turmeric, which is used as a spice and a dye in Indian foods) as a mode of making prostate cancer cells more sensitive to radiation treatment. By making cancer cells more sensitive to radiation, smaller doses of radiation can be used to effectively treat the prostate cancer. Since smaller doses of radiation can be used to treat the cancer cells, there are less harmful radiation-induced effects on the normally functioning tissues that surround the prostate including the bladder and rectum.

Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly occurring diseases and is the second-leading cause of cancer-related mortality in men.

“Prostate cancer cells are only modestly responsive or even unresponsive to the cytotoxic effects of radiation and increasing the dosages of radiation fail to improve the response to therapy,” Meigooni said. “Moreover, the surrounding radiosensitive normal tissues such as bladder and rectum create a limitation for delivery of appropriate radiation dose to the patients.”

Ali S. Meigooni, professor, Department of Radiation Medicine, UK College of Medicine and father of David Meigooni, says his son has accomplished so much at a young age.

“As a father, I am always proud of David’s accomplishments. Moreover, as a scientist, I am proud to see another young scientist with a bright future to carry the torch and push the science forward independently,” he said.

The National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors is a museum of young American inventors whose ideas hold promise to a positive impact on society. Its purpose is to preserve and promote great inventions produced by America’s youth. The National Gallery inducts six young students in grades K-12 annually. In this way, the National Gallery is taking the great ideas of America's youth and enshrining them forever.