3 cancer stories – from colloidal drug aggregates to 3D cell culture to targeted delivery

MOLLY SHOICHET, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

We have become very interested in drug discovery, drug screening and drug delivery in cancer. (1) In collaboration with Brian Shoichet’s lab at UCSF, we found that drug molecules that form stable colloidal aggregates in solution lead to both false positives and false negatives in conventional drug screening applications. This has led to a better understanding of the formation and stability of colloidal drug aggregates. (2) In collaboration with Bill Stanford’s lab at uOttawa, we have been interested in drug screening and the role of the extracellular microenvironment on cell fate. We synthesized a biomimetic 3-dimensional hydrogel in which to grow cancer cells. We are now investigating the different elements of the extracellular matrix on cell fate and how to screen drugs in this perhaps more relevant (and predictive) microenvironment. (3) In collaboration with Masad Damha’s lab at McGill and Dev Sidhu’s lab at UofT, we have been interested in drug delivery and have designed biodegradable, amphiphilic polymeric nanomicelles that enable co-delivery of chemotherapeutics with targeting antibodies and siRNA. We have synthesized polymers that enable high drug loading in thermodynamically stable nanomicelles and selective cellular uptake of chemotherapeutics and siRNA for gene knockdown.

November 3rd, 2016 at 12:15 PM in Clark Center Seminar Room S360

Hosted by:

Fan Yang, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and of Bioengineering, Stanford University

Pre-Seminar November 1st, 2016 at 12:15 PM in Clark S361