October 10, 2024
Congratulations to Anthony on receiving the Translational Cancer Biology training award
Congratulations to Anthony who received the NCI Predoctoral Translational Cancer Biology training award! Anthony is co-mentored by Dr. Jerry Shay and Dr. Gao. He is developing pH sensitive nanomedicine targeting telomerase for brain cancer therapy.
October 1, 2024
Congratulations to Qiang for promotion to Assistant Professor
Dr. Qiang Feng is promoted to Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering for his pioneering work in tumor acidotic biology and lactate metabolism. Using ultra-pH sensitive nanoprobes, Qiang discovered Severely Polarized Extracellular Acidification Regions (SPEAR) surrounding cancer cells, which impedes immune eradication of tumor. Qiang will continue to investigate the genetic drivers of SPEAR biology and its role in immune suppression. (Photo is from a recent shoot on the SPEAR study where Qiang is standing on the right)
August 23, 2024
Farewell to Ray's departure to grad school and celebration of Maggie's Green award
Tex-Mex feast to thank Ray's two years' research contribution in the lab and belated celebration of Maggie's Green award. The fall semester is starting this week!
August 1, 2024
UT Southwestern Center Times highlights Maggie's personal journey leading to the Green Award
Inspiring story on Maggie's personal journey from New York City, Taiwan, Washington and Dallas where science is the passion that overcomes differences in culture and language. Courageous transition from chemistry and materials science to cancer biology and immunology, with increasing complexity and impact in human health. Look forward to celebrating the next chapter of Maggie's contribution in science and personal growth!
Read More
June-July, 2024
Welcome high school students for summer research
Aydin Sumer and Joseph Sun, two local high school students, spent the summer as interns in the lab. Aydin was mentored by Animesha on learning R language to analyze patient information in response to therapy, while Joseph was mentored by Ray on using microfluidics method to formulate cytokine nanoparticles for cancer immunotherapy. Both fellows showed plenty of curiosity and strong work ethics, and they will be missed!
June, 2024
Stepwise UPS nanoprobes identify liver barrier and optimal pH transition for imaging lymph node metastasis
Congratulations to Zach who reported a hybrid ultra-pH sensitive nanoparticle design for sequential pH activation to target lymph node metastasis. He discovered liver is a 'sink' for circulating nanoparticles with high pH transitions such as 6.9, and use of a hitch-hiking design by a carrier polymer with lower pH transition can overcome the delivery challenge.
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May 7, 2024
Maggie Wang received the Ida M. Green Award
Congratulations to Maggie who received the prestigious award to honor the late Ida M. Green and her husband, Cecil Green, who have made many generous contributions to UT Southwestern. The award is given annually to a female graduate student who has demonstrated both scholastic excellence in her field and outstanding citizenship in support of fellow students and advancing the mission and values of UT Southwestern and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
May 2, 2024
Dr. Sumer performed the first pH nanoprobe-guided surgery in head and neck cancer patient at UT Southwestern
Dr. Baran Sumer, chief of head and neck cancer surgery and long-time collaborator, performed the image-guided cancer surgery using ultra-pH sensitive nanoprobes, a technology invented by the lab a decade ago. Image (bottom left) shows fluorescence at tumor margin, and right image shows nanoprobe is dark in blood but can be switched ON after acidification. This work is supported by a clinical R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute.
April 2024
Protective ‘acid wall’ formed by cancer cells impedes cytotoxic T cells
Zach Bennett, Jinming Gao, Anthony Grichuk, Baran Sumer and Qiang Feng (left to right in the photo) discovered severe tumor acidity can deter immune cells from attacking tumor cells. The original work was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
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March 2024
Dr. Gao is induced into the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering
Congratulations to Dr. Gao who is inducted into the AIMBE for his group's pioneer work in the invention and clinical translation of proton transistor nanotechnology. This recognition adds to the growing momentum of biomedical engineering research led by Dr. Sam Achilefu, inaugural chair of the new BME department.
March 2024
Nanoparticles developed at UTSW effectively fight tumors
University Newsroom published a story on the STING activation of type I dendritic cells to boost antitumor immunity based on the recent Science Immunology study.
Read MoreMarch 2024
Congratulations to Maggie!
Maggie Wang received the 2024 Carol and Robert Eberhart Endowed Scholarship Award in Engineering and Clinical Sciences at UT Southwestern Medical Center on the basis of academic and research excellence. The award was established in honor of Dr. Bob Eberhart, a founding member of the biomedical engineering program at UT Southwestern.
March 2024
Severe, polarized extracellular acidic region (SPEAR) on cancer cell surface
In the recent issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering, Qiang et al revealed cancer cells excrete protons into a polarized extracellular region, driving the tumor pH below 5.3. The severe acidity is toxic to T cells but not cancer cells, highlighting a tumor survival strategy for immune evasion. Lactate is the primary proton carrier from cancer cells, suggesting besides cell proliferation, tumor glycolysis (aka Warburg metabolism) may also protect cancer cells against T cell onslaught.
Nature Biomedical Engineering
February 2024
Science Immunology paper out!
The STING-cDC1 paper was selected as a feature article in the February 16 issue of Science Immunology. Congratulations to Jian, Suxin, Maggie and all the co-authors for the resilience through COVID and converging several cross fields in nanoparticle engineering, immune cell biology and cancer immunotherapy!
January 2024
Type 1 conventional dendritic cells are critical for STING-mediated tumor rejection
Jian, Suxin and Maggie discovered a shock-and-lock STING-activating nanoparticle drives antitumor immunity through type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1s) with distinctive chemokine signatures. Multiplexed immunohistochemistry analysis of STING-activating cDC1s in resected tumors predicts survival outcomes after neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer patients.
Read MoreDecember 2023
Jinming Gao is elected a fellow of National Academy of Inventors
NAI fellowship represents the highest professional recognition to academic inventors. Jinming is recognized for his lab's efforts to develop innovative nanotechnology to improve cancer diagnosis and therapy. This award is a reflection of many years of hard work by many current and former lab members.
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November 2023
Welcome Dr. Quan Wang joining the lab!
Welcome Dr. Quan Wang from Shanghai Jiaotong University as a new May Kay International Postdoctoral Fellow! Quan will contribute to our immune engineering efforts for precision control of STING signaling in tumors.
January 2023
OncoNano Medicine’s Pegsitacianine Granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Real-Time Surgical Imaging by the Food and Drug Administration
The Gao Lab has contributed to OncoNano Medicine Inc.'s FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for pH activatable nano sensor.
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November 2022
SITC 2022
Qiang Feng received a travel award to present before thousands of audience at Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2022 on Increasing IL2 Therapeutic Window by UPS Nanoparticle Delivery.
September 2022
KERA News
The Gao lab featured on KERA News: How Exercise May Help Fight Cancer in a Way You Didn't Expect
KERA News Article
September 2022
Congratulations Dr. Jiwon Song
Jiwon Song successfully defended her doctoral thesis "Investigation of Divergent Metabolic Programs in the Tumor-Immune-Microenvironment".
June 2022
Congratulations Dr. Jonathan Wilhelm
Jonathan Wilhelm successfully defended his doctoral thesis "Cooperatively-Physiologic Cornerstone and Emerging Therapeutic Design Principle".
May 2022
Green Fellow from UT Dallas
The Gao Lab hosted Parnavi, an undergraduate Green Fellow from The University of Texas at Dallas. She was mentored by Maggie Wang in our lab. Parnavi presented her poster on the use of ultra-pH-sensitive nanoparticles for cancer immunotherapy at the Green Fellows Research Symposium.
More Information: UT Dallas/UT Southwestern Green Fellows ProgramApril 2022
STAT News
The Gao lab featured on STAT News: Lighting Up Cancer Cells with pH-activated Nanoparticles
STAT News ArticleFebruary 2022
CPRIT Award
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) awarded 74 new grants for over $112 million to expand innovations in cancer research and prevention in Texas on February 16, 2022. CPRIT awarded a grant to Dr. Jinming Gao's lab for Antitumor Immunity in Metastatic Cancers.
Read More About the CPRIT GrantDecember 2021
Polyvalent Design in the cGAS-STING Pathway
A review article by Zachary Bennett, highlighting the natural phenomena of polyvalency in the cGAS-STING pathway and engineering strategies to exploit polyvalency for cancer immunotherapy, was published on December 15, 2021, in Seminars in Immunology.
November 2021
Thanksgiving Dinner and Jian's Farewell
November 2021
Happy Birthday Dr. Sumer and Gang!
October 2021
Farewell Victoria and Suxin
October 2021
Happy Birthday Kelly and Wei!
September 2021
Welcome our New Member Oreoluwa
Oreoluwa Onabolu, M.S.
Oreoluwa Onabolu is the new Research Assistant II. He graduated with an M.S. in Physiology and Biophysics from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He has many responsibilities in the lab. Oreoluwa is responsible for consenting patients for tissue collection. He works with multiple surgeons to collect tissue samples during surgery. After he collects tissue samples, he processes and stores the samples in the biobank for future research. We are excited to have Oreoluwa on our team!
September 2021
Happy Birthday to Maggie!
August 2021
Welcome our New Member, Mariana
Mariana Barrera, B.S.
Mariana Barrera is the new Senior Administrative Assistant. She graduated with a B.S. in Business Management from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, California. She will be the first point of contact for Dr. Jinming Gao. A few of her duties include updating the lab website, coordinating Nano-Immuno-Oncology U54 Seminars, and organizing lab events.
July 2021
Return to Normalcy: First In-Person Lab Meeting Following the Pandemic
As the UT Southwestern Campus returns to normal operations in July 2021, we held our first in-person lab meeting since the pandemic struck. Thanks to Jiahui Chen for an inspiring research update in this first seminar.
Fun Fact: Jiahui also delivered the first research update virtually in 2020 as we encountered the shutdown and confined operations.
June 2021
Fun outside of the lab: Dallas Museum of Art
To celebrate the continued decline in COVID cases, the reopening of normal campus operations, and the many positive events which have occurred within the lab over the past year, we took time to enjoy fellowship and culture at the Dallas Museum of Art.
May 2021
Research Article Featured on Nature BME Cover, May 2021 Issue
An article by Suxin Li on the mechanism of PC7A polymer-induced STING activation compared with natural ligand cGAMP was originally published on February 8, 2021, in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
This article was featured by the UT Southwestern Newsroom and on the cover of the May 2021 issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering:
February 2021
Mechanistic Insight to Polymer-Induced STING Activation
An article by Suxin Li on the mechanism of PC7A polymer-induced STING activation compared with natural ligand cGAMP was published on February 8, 2021, in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
This article was featured by the UT Southwestern Newsroom.
January 2021
Zachary Bennett Receives NIH Predoctoral Fellowship
Congratulations to Zachary Bennett who received the highly competitive and prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
December 2020
Antigen Folding Responsible for Loading in PC7A Nanoparticles
An article by Jonathan Wilhelm on antigen folding associated with loading in PC7A nanoparticles was published on December 7, 2020, in the Journal of Controlled Release.
Read Jonathan's articleNovember 2020
Polycarbonate-Based Biodegradable UPS Nanoparticles
An article by Xu Wang highlighting the development of a biodegradable series of UPS nanoparticles that enable longer therapeutic windows with an improved safety profile was published on November 17, 2020, in Nature Communications.
Read Xu's article
October 2020
Review on Nanoimmunology to Exploit Nanotechnology's Synergy with Immunology
A review by Suxin Li on the use of nanotechnology to intervene in the cancer-immunity cycle was published on October 16, 2020, in Accounts of Chemical Research.
This review was featured on the cover of the 2020 Chemistry in Cancer Immunotheranostics special issue.
September 2020
Review on Cooperativity as a Design Principle in Drug Delivery
A review by Jonathan Wilhelm on the design and use of cooperative nanomaterials for drug delivery was published on September 1, 2020, in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews.
Read the article by Jonathan WilhelmJune 2020
Phase I Clinical Trial Results of UPS in Cancer
Phase I clinical trial data from the use of Ultra-pH-sensitive nanoparticles to detect cancer was published on June 26, 2020, in Nature Communications.
Read about the clinical trialsMay 2020
Tumor Targeted MCT-1 Inhibition by UPS Nanoparticles
An article by Tongyi Huang highlighting tumor-targeted inhibition of monocarboxylate transporter-1 using UPS nanoparticles was published on May 19, 2020, in Advanced Healthcare Materials.
Read Tongyi's articleApril 2020
Jonathan Wilhelm Receives Engineering Scholarship
Congratulations to Jonathan Wilhelm who received the Carol and Robert Eberhart Endowed Scholarship in Engineering in the Clinical Sciences from the UT Southwestern Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program.
February 2020
Detection of Lymph Node Metastases by UPS Nanoparticles
Article by Zachary Bennett highlighting the use of ultra-pH-sensitive nanoparticles for the detection of lymph node metastasis was published on February 10, 2020, in Theranostics.
Read Zachary's article