Awarded in 2023
Home Department: Chemical Engineering
Faculty Advisors: Xiaojing Gao (Chemical Engineering) and Ngan Huang (Cardiothoracic Surgery)

Research Title: Small-Molecule Control of Cytokine Activity Using Human Proteases

Research Description: Cellular therapeutics promise to tackle complex diseases such as cancer and promote muscle regeneration. However, current therapies lack control post-transplantation leading to poor survival and functional heterogeneity across trials. Synthetic biology offers unique tools to control the expression and secretion of immune signals, such as cytokines and growth factors, that could boost and support these therapies. Despite their promise, current tools are not clinically viable due to their foreign origin (bacterial transcription factors) and the immunogenic risk they pose. Carlos proposes a humanized platform composed of engineered cytokines and human proteases to control cytokine activity via an FDA-approved inhibitor. This platform marks a step towards the humanization of synthetic biology, improving the translational potential for the field in cellular therapeutics.