2024 Busse Lecture – Kam W. Leong, PhD

All-Division Colloquium

2023 Louis Busse Lecture

• Kam W. Leong, PhD
  Samuel Y. Sheng Professor
  Department of Biomedical Engineering
  Columbia University

Targeting Nucleic Acids to Combat Inflammation: A New Therapeutic Strategy

Inflammation, while a key defense mechanism, can lead to severe diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders when it becomes chronic. Managing this inflammatory response is crucial, and while drugs are standard treatments, biomaterials are emerging as a novel alternative. These materials can target inflamed areas for drug delivery,increasing effectiveness and reducing side effects. They can also act as scavengers, removing inflammatory factors, showing promise in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. This presentation explores nucleic acid-binding polymers as a multifaceted solution. These polymers not only neutralize inflammatory nucleic acids but also act as drug carriers, offering a new approach in treating inflammatory diseases by modulating the activity of innate immune sensors like Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs).

Hosted by Drug DELIVERY – Quanyin Hu

Kam W. Leong is the Samuel Y. Sheng Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University, where he focuses on three major research directions: 1) Nonviral gene editing in vivo; 2) Biomaterials-assisted modulation of inflammation; 3) Human-tissue chips for disease modeling and drug screening. He has published ~500 manuscripts with an h-index of 135, citations ~69,000, and holds more than 60 issued patents. He is the recipient of the IEEE-EMBS Academic Career Achievement Award, Founder’s Award of the Society for Biomaterials, Editor-in-Chief of Biomaterials, and a member of the National Academy of Inventors, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine.