RESEARCH PROJECTS
Ocular Drug Delivery
Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface causing visual disturbance and tear film instability and can be due to either aqueous tear insufficiency originating with defects in aqueous tear production by the lacrimal gland (LG) or evaporative dry eye associated with meibomian gland insufficiency. Our lab has been focused on the treatment of DED using elastin-like polypeptides as a tool. The treatment strategy consists of two arms. One is to explore the feasibility...read more
Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface causing visual disturbance and tear film instability and can be due to either aqueous tear insufficiency originating with defects in aqueous tear production by the lacrimal gland (LG) or evaporative dry eye associated with meibomian gland insufficiency. Our lab has been focused on the treatment of DED using elastin-like polypeptides as a tool. The treatment strategy consists of two arms. One is to explore the feasibility...read more
Antibody Nanoworms
About 89 percent of the patients that were diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015 had Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). NHLs are a heterogeneous group of lymphoproliferative tumors, which are mostly derived from B-lymphocytes. Several B-cell surface receptors such as CD19 and CD20 have been evaluated for developing immunotherapies for B-cell malignancies. The most prominent immunotherapeutic for NHL is rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody that binds CD20. Successful clinical outcomes of B-cell NHL patients treated with antibody based immunotherapeutics ...read more
About 89 percent of the patients that were diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015 had Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). NHLs are a heterogeneous group of lymphoproliferative tumors, which are mostly derived from B-lymphocytes. Several B-cell surface receptors such as CD19 and CD20 have been evaluated for developing immunotherapies for B-cell malignancies. The most prominent immunotherapeutic for NHL is rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody that binds CD20. Successful clinical outcomes of B-cell NHL patients treated with antibody based immunotherapeutics ...read more
Cognate Drug Receptors
Small molecule chemotherapeutics, although routinely used in the clinic, suffer from poor drug properties, including low water solubility, rapid plasma clearance, and non-specific bio-distribution causing toxic side effects. Our cognate drug receptor technology utilizes receptor-elastin like polypeptide (ELP) fusion proteins to facilitate delivery of drugs with sub-optimal physicochemical, toxicological, and pharmacokinetic properties.....read more
Small molecule chemotherapeutics, although routinely used in the clinic, suffer from poor drug properties, including low water solubility, rapid plasma clearance, and non-specific bio-distribution causing toxic side effects. Our cognate drug receptor technology utilizes receptor-elastin like polypeptide (ELP) fusion proteins to facilitate delivery of drugs with sub-optimal physicochemical, toxicological, and pharmacokinetic properties.....read more
Intracellular Switches
When scientists hope to deduce the function of a particular gene, the most common approach is to inhibit that gene or its protein product and then examine the cellular aftermath. Whether inhibition is achieved through small molecules, siRNA, or gene editing, proper interpretation of the cause (the gene/the protein it produces) and its effect (cell signaling, trafficking, organ development, disease manifestation, etc.) requires that inhibition is precise enough to inhibit only the gene of interest and rapid enough that the cell cannot compensate for the inhibition. Accordingly, the ideal technology to study gene function...read more
When scientists hope to deduce the function of a particular gene, the most common approach is to inhibit that gene or its protein product and then examine the cellular aftermath. Whether inhibition is achieved through small molecules, siRNA, or gene editing, proper interpretation of the cause (the gene/the protein it produces) and its effect (cell signaling, trafficking, organ development, disease manifestation, etc.) requires that inhibition is precise enough to inhibit only the gene of interest and rapid enough that the cell cannot compensate for the inhibition. Accordingly, the ideal technology to study gene function...read more