(JACKSON, Miss.) – Jackson State University professor and researcher Dr. Paresh Ray has been selected as one of 30 recipients worldwide of the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman 2014 award. The award recognizes outstanding services, contributions and achievements by Indian-born professionals who live and work outside of India.
The Non-Resident Indians (NRI) Welfare Society of India and Indian government officials will present Ray with the award on May 7 in New Delhi, India.
“I’m really happy to be honored,” Ray said. “The award is well known in India.”
Ray and his team of researchers in JSU’s Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology are developing a method to kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells. Their research paves the way to establish cancer treatments without the harsh side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. It could also lead to less expensive treatment for patients. Ray’s photothermal therapy system has been effective in the lab, killing prostate cancer cells, breast cancer cells skin cancer cells and liver cancer cells.
The photothermal therapy system using popcorn-shaped nanoparticles can detect cancer, kill it and monitor the cells to determine if treatment is effective. His team also has been the first to use gold nanoparticles to target and kill multi-drug-resistant salmonella bacteria DT 104. A patent for the photothermal therapy system is pending.
Ray has presented his research during the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.
Ray is an internationally known chemist, and JSU is proud to have him among the university’s esteemed faculty. Ray has 132 research papers that have been cited a minimum of 40 times. His “Selective detection of mercury (II) ion using nonlinear optical properties of gold nanoparticles,” published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, has 175 citations.