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Translational Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery

molecular nanomedicine image

Translational Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery (TNDD) is designed for students who are interested in molecular design of nanomedicine platforms to help translate basic biological science to clinical medicine. TNDD is ideally suited for students with strong engineering, physical science, or biology background and a keen desire to cross the boundaries between traditional scientific disciplines.


Degree Plan


Research Topics

TNDD faculty members are from a diverse scientific, engineering, and clinical background to offer a highly interdisciplinary training environment. Molecular design and nano engineering are closely integrated with pathophysiology and biology rationales to establish emerging precision paradigms for disease diagnosis and therapy. Examples include:

  • Nano delineation of tumor boundaries for image-guided cancer surgery
  • Minimalist nanovaccine for immunotherapy
  • Theranostic nanomedicine integrating imaging and therapeutic delivery targeting diabetes or cancer
  • Cancer-targeted siRNA/miRNA delivery and therapy

Director

Ian Corbin, Ph.D.
Ian Corbin, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Research Interests: Nanomedicine and image-guided drug delivery for novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications in oncology

Faculty

Kareem Azab, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Research Interests: Drug resistance mechanism, drug delivery systems, nanoparticles, immunotherapy, tissue engineering

Kareem Azab, Ph.D.
Jinming Gao, Ph.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Activatable optical/MRI imaging probes to study tumor metabolism and theranostic nanomedicine for cancer-targeted drug therapy

Jinming Gao, Ph.D.
Caroline de Gracia Lux, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Research Interests: Ultrasound contrast agent, perfluorocarbon emulsions, development of new ultrasound-based strategies for early detection and treatment of diseases

Caroline de Gracia Lux, Ph.D.
Jacques Lux, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Research Interests: Ultrasound-guided drug and gene delivery, Targeted drug delivery system, Materials Science, Immunotherapy, Image-guided therapy, Nanomedicine

Jacques Lux, Ph.D.
Ralph P. Mason, Ph.D., C.Sci., C.Chem.

Professor

Research Interests: Tumor pathophysiology, development of novel therapeutics and prognostic imaging biomarkers based on MRI, optical and photoacoustic imaging.

Ralph Mason, Ph.D.
Ashish Ranjan, Ph.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Nanomedicine, immunotherapy, ultrasound and radiation guided chemo-immunonotherapy

Ashish Ranjan, Ph.D.
Daniel Siegwart, Ph.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Polymer and materials chemistry, drug and gene delivery, RNAi, biomedical imaging, detection and treatment of cancer

Daniel Siegwart, Ph.D.
Baran Sumer, M.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Clinical application of nanoprobes with unique nanoscale behavior

Baran Sumer, M.D.
Xiankai Sun, Ph.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Development of PET, SPECT, and MRI imaging probes to assess biological abnormalities and evaluation of disease treatment

Xiankai Sun, Ph.D.
Alexander Tatara, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Research Interests: Biomaterials, immunoengineering, infection tissue engineering

Alexander Tatara, M.D., Ph.D.
 

Associate Members

These faculty members do not accept graduate students. They participate in teaching, co-mentoring, exam and dissertation committees, and all other program activities.

Jeffrey Cadeddu, M.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Urology; laparoscopy, telesurgical mentoring

Jeffrey Cadeddu, M.D.
Lukas Farbiak, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Research Interests: Nanomedicine, lipid nanoparticles, mRNA, siRNA, CRISPR/Cas, base editing, genetic medicines, gene editing

Lukas Farbiak, Ph.D.
Zoltan Kovacs, Ph.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Molecular and functional imaging, rational design of bifunctional ligands, targeted MRI contrast agents and radiopharmaceuticals

Zoltan Kovacs, Ph.D.
Jayanthi Lea, M.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Cervical cancer, developmental therapeutics, ovarian cancer, early detection of ovarian cancer

Jayanthi Lea, M.D.
Shaw-Wei Tsen, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Research Interests: Pathogen inactivation, cancer prevention, aging research                                                                                 

Shaw-Wei Tsen, M.D., Ph.D.
Andrew Z. Wang, M.D.

Professor

Research Interests: Application of biomedical engineering to cancer research, developing novel cancer diagnostics and therapeutics to improve cancer treatment, genitourinary cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, radiation oncology, translational research, cancer immunotherapy, cancer nanotherapeutics, cancer biomarkers, radioisotopes, nanoparticles, prostate cancer, chemoradiotherapy

Andrew Wang, M.D.