Event
Bioengineering Seminar Series: Suzie Hwang Pun
Friday, April 11, 2014
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Pepco Room (1105), Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Professor Christopher Jewell
cmjewell@umd.edu
Phage Panning, Peptides and Polymers: From ligand identification to in vivo applications for drug delivery
Suzie Hwang Pun
Robert J. Rushmer Associate Professor of Bioengineering
Adjunct Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
University of Washington
We have recently synthesized brush-shaped, peptide-based copolymers by RAFT polymerization of peptide monomers with HPMA. These materials possess the biological functions contributed by their peptide components with the scalable synthesis of synthetic polymers. In this presentation, I will summarize our work in bioactive peptide identification, synthesis of peptide-based polymers, and applications of these materials for drug delivery. In one example, we use a cell-based phage screening method to identify a peptide that preferentially binds to “anti-inflammatory” (M2) macrophage. We further demonstrate that this peptide recognizes tumor-associated, M2-like macrophage, and that the peptide can be used for drug delivery to these cells. In a second example, we synthesize multifunctional materials for neuron-targeted delivery of nucleic acids. These peptide-based copolymers contain motifs for nucleic acid packaging, neuron targeting, and endosomal release. We also synthesized enzymatically-cleavable polymers using peptide monomers containing cathepsin B-cleavable sequences. The polymers were tested in vitro by reporter gene delivery to neuron-like, differentiated PC-12 cells and by direct, intraventricular injection in mice.
About the Speaker
Dr. Pun received her Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology under the guidance of Prof. Mark Davis, and her undergraduate training at Stanford University. She has received numerous awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and recognition by MIT’s Technology Review as one of the top 100 innovators. The Pun Lab develops bioinspired materials to advance drug delivery and molecular imaging technologies by integrating techniques from engineering, chemistry, and cell biology. Thus far she has authored more than 75 publications.
