Exploiting Multivalent Peptide Presentation for Selective Delivery to Innate and Adaptive Immune Cells
The goal of one aspect of this project is to selectively deliver immune signals to antigen-presenting cells that instruct naïve T cells differentiation. Leveraging findings that link ligand density to receptor-mediated uptake, this project will tune targeting peptide quantity and presentation on self-assembled polymeric nanoparticles. Understanding how targeting ligand density influences cell-selectivity could expand our knowledge on designing other targeted strategies for other clinical applications.
Engineering Controlled Release Immunotherapies to Precisely Control Immune Function to Treat Autoimmune Disease and Cancer
Precise spatial and temporal control of cues is needed to achieve desired immune responses. For treating autoimmune disease and cancers, carriers that are void of synthetic polymers provide a platform to interrogate how distinct cues drive specific immune responses. First generation designs delivered self-antigen and regulatory cues to induce immune tolerance in autoimmunity; second generation designs incorporated a non-degradable cross-linker to precisely control delivery of these cues. The third generation platform will expand on these advancements to incorporate stimuli-responsiveness and co-delivery of relevant small molecule immunosuppressant and chemotherapeutic agents to engage relevant immune cells to treat autoimmunity and cancer.
