Jones Seminar: Engineering Nanoparticles and mRNAs for Targeted Therapeutics

ZOOM LINK
Meeting ID: 937 4316 0035
Passcode: 411385

Genetic medicines have the potential to treat various diseases, but require development of controlled delivery vehicles to transfect specific cell types in specific organs to achieve therapeutic effects. Moreover, certain ailments including inflammatory diseases and cancer would benefit from control over intracellular and extracellular localization of therapeutic proteins.

In this presentation, I will discuss the development of selective organ targeting (SORT) lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that enable high levels of genome editing in the liver, lungs, spleen, tumors, or bone marrow. I will also discuss signal peptide engineered nucleic acid design (SEND) mRNAs that encode for etanercept/TNF-α inhibitor antibodies and demonstrate therapeutic efficacy in a psoriasis model by reducing hyperkeratosis and inflammation. The modular nature of SEND enables intracellular and extracellular localization control of various functional proteins for diverse therapeutic applications. Cumulatively, these findings introduce strategies to control how delivery nanoparticles navigate to where they need to go, control how delivery nanoparticles release nucleic acids inside of cells, and control how translated proteins navigate to where they need to go for ultimate therapeutic benefit. 

Hosted by Professor Hung Nguyen.

About the Speaker(s)

Daniel Siegwart
Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Biochemistry, U Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Daniel J. Siegwart is a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Biochemistry, and the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center (SCCC) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He holds the W. Ray Wallace Distinguished Chair in Molecular Oncology Research and serves as the director of the Program in Genetic Drug Engineering, director of the Drug Delivery Program in Biomedical Engineering, and co-leader of the Chemistry and Cancer Program in the NCI-designated SCCC. He received a BS in biochemistry from Lehigh University, and a PhD in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. He was elected as a fellow to the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows, and the Controlled Release Society College of Fellows, and was recognized as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar by the National Academy of Medicine. His research laboratory utilizes materials chemistry to enable targeted nanoparticle delivery of genomic medicines, has been at the forefront in the design of synthetic carriers for gene editing, and has applied these technologies for correction of genetic diseases and treatment of cancer.

Contact

For more information, contact Amos Johnson at amos.l.johnson@dartmouth.edu .