Steinmetz engineers plant virus-based nano-materials for human and plant health applications. She repurposes plant viruses to yield nanoparticles that interface with the immune system for application as vaccines and immunotherapy. Her work has direct applications for preventing and treating cancer, cardiovascular disease, and infectious disease. Another direction is the application of these nano-medicine and immuno-engineering concepts toward improving plant health.
Liangfang Zhang invented a cell-membrane-coated nanoparticle platform for advanced drug and antigen delivery. By cloaking synthetic nano-carriers with plasma membranes derived directly from tumor cells or pathogens, these biomimetic nanoparticles function as multi-antigenic nanovaccines. The cell-mimicking nanoparticles have direct applications for a wide range of applications including preventing and treating cancer, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and autoimmune diseases. Another direction is to use these biomimetic nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery or removal of harmful biological subjects.
The Bui lab is interested in elucidating how immune cells can be manipulated to control and intervene with tumor formation. His basic research uses both mouse models of cancer and samples from cancer patients. His lab has expertise in the immunophenotyping of immune subsets and in particular Bui participates in multiple clinical trials where patient samples are analyzed for immune cell numbers and activity.
The Carson laboratory studies autoimmune diseases and cancers of the lymphoid system. The goals are to delineate molecular differences between pathologic and normal tissues that can serve as targets for therapy.
The Chen lab’s research focus areas include biomaterials and tissue engineering; 3D bioprinting and machine learning; stem cell and regenerative medicine; organ-on-a-chip and tissue-on-a-chip. His team is interested in the functions of immune cells in these bioprinted tissues and organs.
Shane Crotty and his team study immunity against infectious diseases. They investigate how the immune system remembers infections and vaccines. Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective medical treatments in modern civilization and are responsible for saving millions of lives. Yet, good vaccines are very difficult to design. A better understanding of immune memory will facilitate the ability to make new vaccines.
The Handel lab is focused on the structure and function of chemokines and chemokine receptors. These proteins control the migration of cells during development, immune surveillance, and inflammation. However, inappropriate regulation of chemokines/receptors is also associated with numerous diseases including inflammatory diseases, atherosclerosis, cancer, and HIV.
The Pokorski lab integrates protein and polymer science to generate new materials for drug delivery, imaging, and vaccination. The team is at the forefront of efforts to bridge chemical synthesis, molecular biology, and materials science to make new materials for biomedical applications, in particular for delivery of vaccines and immunotherapies.
The Sailor lab studies fundamentals and applications of silicon-based nanomaterials. Current research topics emphasize mesoporous silicon, harnessing its properties to answer questions in chemistry, materials science, biology, and medicine. Lab themes include porous silicon nanoparticles; peptide-targeted drug delivery; nano-cages; luminescent silicon quantum dots; and dielectric mesostructures.
The Schoenberger lab works at the nexus of functional immunology and bioinformatics to gain deeper insights into the human T cell response to cancer and to develop novel clinical interventions based on their findings.
Shah develops polymeric biomaterials that can regulate molecular interactions at the nanoscale. His research focuses on understanding how these interactions can be used to guide the behavior of blood and immune cells in the body, with the aim of developing new therapeutic approaches for tissue repair, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Joseph Wang’s lab is developing micromotor and microneedle technologies that are being used to develop next-generation vaccine approaches that target immune systems.
The Wang is interested in understanding the regulatory mechanisms underlying cell fate decision. They utilize a multi-scale approach that integrates computational and experimental investigation of epigenetic regulation from molecular level to genomic level then to systems level. The goals are to build computational and theoretical models to uncover fundamental principles that govern cell fate decision in development and cellular reprogramming and design strategies to intelligently manipulate cell state.