Research Interests
Our lab applies engineering principles to develop nanotechnology-driven solutions for treating and diagnosing disease. We focus on organic nanoparticles, lipid-based structures, micelles, and vaccine delivery technologies that advance therapeutic and imaging capabilities.
Porphysomes and PoP-Liposomes
Porphyrin-phospholipid (PoP) amphiphiles can self-assemble into liposome-like structures suitable for imaging and therapy (Lovell et al., Nat Mater, 2011). We later demonstrated that PoP liposomes with low PoP content can be permeabilized by near-infrared laser irradiation for on-demand drug release (Carter et al., Nat Commun, 2014).
Doxil-like liposomes can gain light-responsive properties by incorporating minimal PoP (Luo et al., Biomaterials, 2016), showing efficacy in large rat tumor models (Carter et al., Mol Cancer Ther, 2019). Enhanced drug delivery plays a significant mechanistic role (Luo et al., J Control Rel, 2019).
Surfactant-Stripped Micelles
We discovered that hydrophobic compounds can be formulated in aqueous environments using Pluronic (Poloxamer) surfactants, then processed at low temperatures to remove unbound surfactant (Zhang et al., Nat Nano, 2014).
These surfactant-stripped micelles are suitable for high-loading therapeutic applications (Zhang et al., Nat Commun, 2016) and can be used for imaging contrast enhancement (Zhang et al., Adv Mater, 2016).
Self-Assembling Vaccines
Our vaccine platform uses cobalt-containing PoP liposomes to drive spontaneous assembly of peptide and protein antigens into serum-stable particles (Shao et al., Nat Chem, 2015).
This approach enhances immune responses and allows convenient multiplexing strategies (Huang et al., Nat Nanotechnol, 2018).