Targeted Therapeutic Delivery through Modified Nanocarriers 

Mentors

Project Description

The ability to programmably deliver immunotherapies is an emerging area of vaccine design as it enables us to manipulate molecules that stimulate the immune system (e.g. proteins, DNA) to make more potent responses. Although nanocarriers used in drug delivery research stabilize the immunogenic molecules they encapsulate and allow for their controlled release, further work can be done to modify these nanoparticles for even more specific engagement with and processing by targeted immune cell populations. Through this project, the student will: design functionalized nanoparticles, study the controlled the release of immunotherapeutics, as well as the targeting of specific cell populations that engage with the immunotherapeutic, and examine the immunological efficacy of the vaccine in raising potent immunity.

  • Engage with literature on functionalized nanomedicines that allow for delivery to distinct immune cell populations (e.g. B cells, T cells, dendritic cells)
  • Encapsulate immunogenic cargo into these modified nanocarriers
  • Analyze the release kinetics/immune cell activation elicited by this drug delivery system.
  • Practice critically examining scientific literature and considering its applicability to a research project
  • Learn mammalian and specifically immunological cell culture techniques
  • Develop a nanocarrier modification protocol
  •  Learn how to encapsulate molecular cargo into a nanocarrier
  • Learn how to conduct immunological assays/experiments and how to interpret subsequent results.

Timeline

Week 1: Literature review of potential design elements that can be added to controlled-release nanocarriers that increase delivery to specific cell subtypes.  ● Observe the behavior (release kinetics, stability of modified nanocarrier) and its subsequent immunological effects (uptake in immune cell populations, immune cell activation through flow cytometry, microscopy) – 4 weeks
Week 2: Learn Training on cell culture and cargo encapsulation techniques standard to the lab
Weeks 3-7:  Functionalize nanocarriers and characterize this final structure (through flow cytometry, microscopy).
Weeks 7-10: Observe the behavior (release kinetics, stability of modified nanocarrier) and its subsequent immunological effects (uptake in immune cell populations, immune cell activation through flow cytometry, microscopy).

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