Special Seminar: Ji-Ho Park

Abstract:

Synthetic nanoparticles engineered for systemic administration into the body have great potential to overcome current limitations of cancer therapies. Despite significant effort to enhance their targeting capability, substantial quantities of nanoparticles in circulation are cleared and retained for long periods of time in the resident macrophages of the mononuclear phagocytic system, increasing the likelihood of nanoparticle-mediated chronic toxicity. Furthermore, an unfavorable tumor microenvironment results in poor penetration and uneven distribution of targeted nanoparticles that reach the tumor, reducing the overall therapeutic efficacy. In this talk, I will discuss our recent efforts to harness exocytosis of nanoparticles for improving cancer nanomedicine. Our efforts span understanding of exocytosis patterns of synthetic nanoparticles in macrophages and tumor cells for systemic excretion and tumor distribution, and development of new delivery systems in which exocytosis of synthetic liposomes in the tumor microenvironment can be leveraged to improve tissue penetration and therapeutic efficacy.