The Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Immunoengineering is dedicated to the development of cutting-edge technologies for disease treatment. Our research falls into the broad fields of nanotechnology, drug delivery, genome editing, and cancer therapy. Current projects are focused on the following topics.

• Precise in vivo gene editing

• Cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy seeks to induce or enhance immune responses against tumor cells, thereby fighting cancer with the patient’s own immune system. Our works in cancer immunotherapy are focused in two areas: (1) use in vivo genome editing techniques to mitigate or reverse the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment to initiate a sustained antitumor immunity; and (2) use local magnetic heating to modulate antitumor immunity by exploring the intrinsic connection between immune responses and the body temperature.

 

• Novel synthetic and biogenic nanomaterials

We are engaged in the synthesis, functionalization, and characterization of synthetic and biological nanomaterials. Synthetic nanomaterials include magnetic iron oxide nanomaterials as well as other nanomaterials with therapeutic potentials. Examples of biological nanomaterials include viral vectors and exosomes. Of particular interest is to develop hybrid systems that combine the virtues of synthetic and biological materials for in vivo genome editing.

• ROS-producing nanozyme

Drug delivery to solid tumors presents a great challenge in cancer treatment. One of our main focuses is to develop magnetic nanomaterial-based delivery vehicles that improve drug delivery via image-guided delivery or magnetic targeting. In addition, magnetic nanomaterials can induce thermal stress in response to an alternating magnetic field or generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) via surface-mediated Fenton reactions. We seek to explore these unique properties for effective cancer therapies.