Research Highlights

6/8/2020
Hong lab’s paper entitled “An Avidity-based PD-L1 Antagonist Using Nanoparticle-Antibody Conjugates for Enhanced Immunotherapy” has been accepted for publication by Nano Letters. This paper demonstrates that the dendrimer-mediated multivalent interaction substantially increases the binding avidity of the ICIs and thereby improves the antagonist effect, providing a novel platform for cancer immunotherapy.

5/18/2020
Hong lab’s recent development of an exosome-based liquid biopsy has been accepted for publication by Nano Letters. “Immunoavidity-based capture of tumor exosomes using poly(amidoamine) dendrimer surfaces” was in collaboration with Dr. Kimple.

5/01/2020
Hong lab published a paper entitled “Surface engineering for efficient capture of circulating tumor cells in renal cell carcinoma: From nanoscale analysis to clinical application” in Biosensors and Bioelectronics. This paper demonstrates that the newly engineered dendrimer capture platform effectively detects renal cell carcinoma circulating tumor cells (RCC-CTCs) for their potential use as tumor biomarkers. The research was conducted by Hong lab in addition to collaborators at Duke University and University of North Carolina.

1/03/2020
Hong lab published a paper entitled “Nanoparticle Conjugation Stabilizes and Multimerizes β-Hairpin Peptides to Effectively Target PD-1/PD-L1 β-Sheet-Rich Interfaces” in JACS. This paper demonstrates the multivalent binding effect of the peptide-dendrimer conjugate (PDC) and the potential of the PDC system as a novel class of inhibitors targeting β-strand-rich protein surfaces, such as PD-1 and PD-L1, displaying its potential as a new cancer immunotherapy platform.