Wirtz stated, "For too long, not enough room has been made for nonconventional and nonbiological concepts borrowed from modern physics and engineering to tackle this disease. It is time to bring to the table ideas grounded in chemical and biomolecular engineering principles to develop new therapies and diagnostic tools. [The National Cancer Institute has] given us major funding for a center to study all the steps in the metastatic cascade." The PSOC is part of the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), which Wirtz co-founded and acts as associate director. INBT was launched in 2006 to "promote multidisciplinary research at the interface of nanotechnology and medicine." With more than 250 affiliated faculty members from the Johns Hopkins schools of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Medicine, and Public Health and scientists from the Applied Physics Laboratory, the institute is home to several center grants and numerous education, training, and outreach programs. INBT counts Becton Dickinson, MedImmune, Northrop Grumman, Secant Medical, and Under Armour among its corporate partners, and Wirtz has previously served as a Nikon Partner in Science since 2008. Wirtz is the PI of a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site in the Nanotechnology for Biology and Bioengineering program. Wirtz also founded the Johns Hopkins Center for Digital Pathology that brings together pathologists, surgeons, oncologists, and engineers to develop new single-cell technology for improved diagnostic, prognostic, therapeutic approaches for human diseases, including cancer, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and frailty in aging. He co-directs the Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center, another National Cancer Institute-funded entity. From 2005 to 2012, he also directed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) funded interdisciplinary graduate research training program in nanotechnology for biology and medicine. The program aimed to produce researchers able to create new particles and materials to be used in the detection, treatment, prevention, and cure of human disease. It recruited students from biochemistry, chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering, while making a special effort to include minorities under-represented in science. Awards and distinctions Wirtz was elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2006 for "major contributions in molecular cell mechanics and the development of particle tracking methods for cell and molecular biology." In 2009, he was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009 "for contributions to cell micromechanics and cell adhesion and for the development and application of particle tracking methods