A tiny bit of matter shaped like a soccer ball, in the hands of Roanoke-linked scientists, could make a huge difference for people with allergies.

Roanoke native Chris Kepley and scientists at Luna Innovations teamed up to use the sort of carbon molecules that exist in candle soot and pencil graphite.

Kepley said he also has been awarded $1.6 million in research funds from the National Institutes of Health to pursue further research on whether the molecules can block arthritis pain.

Robert Lenk, president of Roanoke-based Luna Innovations' nanoWorks Division, said experiments by Luna and Kepley "could be the beginning of an entirely new field of medicine we are calling nanoImmunology."

The experiments involve molecules known as buckyballs because their 60-atom shape resembles both a soccer ball and the geodesic dome created by architect Buckminster Fuller. They are also called fullerenes.

If further research proves the molecules safe in clinical trials with humans, the results could mean less sneezing for some people with allergies. Funding for the clinical trials is still being sought, Kepley said.

Lenk and Kepley were co-authors of the scientific paper "Fullerene Nanomaterials Inhibit the Allergic Response" published July 1 in the Journal of Immunology. The paper's results set the stage for developing new potential therapies for allergies using nanomaterials.

Kepley said Thursday he learned last week that the NIH had rated buckyballs work highly and awarded five years of funding to see if buckyballs can ease arthritis pain. He plans to pursue the arthritis study with researchers in Boston.

Buckyballs are carbon nanospheres, and research by Kepley and Luna has shown they are able to block allergic response in human-cell culture experiments and mice.

"This discovery is exciting because it points to the possibility that these novel materials can one day lead to new therapies," said Kepley, who grew up in Roanoke and attended Patrick Henry High School. He earned a doctorate at Virginia Commonwealth University and also holds a master's degree in business.

He is an assistant professor of internal medicine in the division of rheumatology, allergy and immunology at the VCU School of Medicine in Richmond, and spends most of his time on research.

Clinical trials on humans are the next step toward bringing the allergy-blocking nanomaterials into the pharmaceutical market, Kepley said.

Some forms of nanomaterials have seemed to be toxic, "but the ones we are working with are water-soluble fullerenes," which don't appear to be toxic, Kepley said. "Other people have shown that, too," he said.

Still, "there are not enough studies to say yes or no about whether they are toxic," Kepley said. "Until you do clinical trials, you just don't know," he said.

"People always ask how toxic these are," Kepley said.

Because the molecules are carbon-based, "you'd think they wouldn't be toxic," he said.

Molecules that are insoluble in water are typically the ones that raise the toxicity flag, he said.

The buckyball molecules in Kepley's and Link's experiments work by binding to allergy cells, blocking their ability to cause allergic reactions.

Asthma patients are among the people who could benefit the most, Kepley said.

In trading on the Nasdaq exchange, Luna shares closed up 12 cents at $4.31.