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2023 Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer Principal Investigators’ Meeting

The 2023 NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer Annual Principal Investigator Meeting was held in person at NCI Shady Grove facility on October 17–18, 2023. The meeting gathered the Alliance investigators and collaborators to present their recent research results as well as to discuss emerging opportunities in cancer nanotechnology. The scientific sessions included:

  • Nanotechnology-driven immunotherapy, gene therapies, and combination therapies; and 
  • Cancer interventions enabled by nanomaterials and devices.

The meeting also featured panel discussions on topics “mRNA vaccines for cancer – lessons learned from COVID19” and “NCI resources – support and aid for current and future grantees”.

Agenda

Day 1: Tuesday, October 17
Time Session
9:00 – 9:20 a.m.

Welcome and Introduction

  • Janet Eary, M.D., Associate Director, Cancer Imaging Program, DCTD, National Cancer Institute
  • Piotr Grodzinski, Ph.D., Branch Chief, NSDB/CIP/DCTD, National Cancer Institute

9:20 – 10:00 a.m.

Plenary presentation

Engineering the stimulation of natural and synthetic T cells for cancer immunotherapy

Darrell Irvine, Ph.D., MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Session I

NANOTECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN IMMUNOTHERAPY

MODERATOR: Piotr Grodzinski, Ph.D., Branch Chief, NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NCI
10:00 – 10:20 a.m.

Nano-optogenetic control of CAR-T cells for precision immunotherapy with enhanced safety

Yubin Zhou, Ph.D., TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER
10:20 – 10:40 a.m.

Use of a nano-enabled platform for pancreatic cancer immunotherapy

Andre Nel, M.D., Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
10:40 – 11:00 a.m.

Plant virus nanoparticles for immunotherapy and relapse prevention of ovarian cancer

Nicole Steinmetz, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
11:00 – 11:20 a.m.

Break
11:20 – 11:40 a.m.

Systemic delivery of siRNA by nanosac for checkpoint blockade immunotherapy of head and neck squamous cell cancer

Yoon Yeo, Ph.D., PURDUE UNIVERSITY

11:40 a.m – 12:00 p.m.

Intrapleural immunotherapeutic nanoparticles for MPE treatment

Dawen Zhao, M.D., Ph.D., WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
12:00 – 12:20 p.m.

Dual action immunostimulatory nanoparticles for treatment of aggressive cancers

Efstathios Karathanasis, Ph.D., CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
12:20 – 1:40 p.m.

Lunch Break

Session II

PANEL DISCUSSION: mRNA VACCINES FOR CANCER – LESSONS LEARNED FROM COVID19

MODERATOR: Andre Nel, M.D., Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
1:40 – 3:00 p.m.
  • Andre Nel, M.D., Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
  • Matthias Stephan, M.D., Ph.D., FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER
  • Puneet Tyagi, Ph.D., ASTRA ZENECA
  • Yoon Yeo, Ph.D., PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Session III

GENE THERAPIES

MODERATOR: Leela Rani Avula, Ph.D., Program Director, NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NCI
3:00 – 3:20 p.m.

Next-gen targeted nanoparticles for inhibiting Gli2 in bone metastatic tumors

Julie Rhoades, Ph.D., VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
3:20 – 3:40 p.m.

Developing macrophage reprogramming mRNA nanocarriers for initial clinical testing

Matthias Stephan M.D., Ph.D., FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER
3:40 – 4:00 p.m.

Targeted RNA delivery using ribonucleoprotein

Xiaohu Gao, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

POSTER SESSION
Day 2: Wednesday, October 18
Time Session

8:30 – 8:40 a.m.

Day 1 recap

Carolina Salvador Morales, Ph.D., Program Director, NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NCI

Session IV

CANCER INTERVENTIONS ENABLED BY NANOMATERIALS AND DEVICES

MODERATOR: Yicong Wu, Ph.D., Program Director, NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NCI
8:40 – 9:00 a.m.

Magnetofluorescent nanoprobe for the image-guided delivery to glioblastoma

John Yu, M.D., CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER
9:00 – 9:20 a.m.

Customized nanofibers with preferential lung-targeting properties for treating metastatic pulmonary tumors

Vanessa Bellat, Ph.D., WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY
9:20 – 9:40 a.m.

Click Chemistry-Mediated Extracellular Vesicles Enrichment for Characterization of Tumor-Derived Extracellular Vesicles

Hsian-Rong Tseng, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
9:40 – 10:00 a.m.

Tumor-targeting transformable nanotherapeutic platform against cancer

Kit Lam, M.D., Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
10:00 – 10:10 a.m.

Presentation of Poster Awards 

Siyao Liu, Lian He, Kai Huang, Gang Han, Yubin Zhou, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University

Nano-optogenetics for precision immunotherapy

Anthony O. Omole, Jessica F. A. de Oleveira, Lucas Sutorus, Nicole F. Steinmetz, Institute of Engineering in Medicine, University of California, San Diego

Ovarian cancer therapy using plant viral nanoparticles

Alina Ringaci, Ting-Yu Shih, Christopher Gromisch, Aladin Hamoud, Samantha M. Berry, Yolonda L. Colson, Mark W. Grinstaff, College of Engineering, Boston University

Self-assembled Nano-zip Antibody Drug Conjugate for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer

James G. Shamul, Xiaoming He, Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park

A meta-analysis of engineered blood brain barriers in vitro
10:10 – 10:40 a.m.

Break

Session V

NCI RESOURCES – SUPPORT AND AID FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE GRANTEES

MODERATOR: Piotr Grodzinski, Ph.D., Branch Chief, NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NCI
10:40 – 11:00 a.m.

Grant policies, beyond R01s

Leela Rani Avula, Ph.D., NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NCI
11:00 – 11:20 a.m.

NCL overview

Marina Dobrovolskaia, Ph.D., NCL, FNLCR
11:20 – 11:40 a.m.

caNanoLab database overview

Weina Ke, Ph.D., FNLCR

Session VI

COMBINATION THERAPIES

MODERATOR: Carolina Salvador Morales, Ph.D., Program Director, NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NC
11:40 am – 12:00 p.m.

Pre-IND development of polymeric micelles with dual drug payloads for HCC therapy

Chun Li, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER
12:00 – 12:20 p.m.

Inhibition of iRhom by CD44-targeting Nanocarrier for Improved Cancer Immunochemotherapy

Song Li, M.D., Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
12:20 – 12:40 p.m.

Nano-beter Paclitaxel by Polymeric Micelles, Prodrug Nanotechnology, and mTOR Inhibition

Glen Kwon, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
12:40 – 1:00 p.m.

Nanoscale Metal-Organic Framework for the Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer

Wenbin Lin, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
1:00 – 1:20 p.m.

Closing remarks

Piotr Grodzinski, Ph.D., Branch Chief, NSDB, CIP, DCTD, NCI

 

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