Nanotechnology-Mediated Biomolecular Delivery for Medicinal Applications

Date: 02/11/2016
Time: 2:50 am – 4:00 am
Location: 102 East Village
Speaker: Jinjun Shi, Ph.D., Anesthesia Department, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Dr. Shi’s laboratory research involves a highly interdisciplinary combination of nanotechnology, biomaterials, drug delivery and immunotherapy. In the seminar, he will discuss some of his recent work in developing robust nanoparticle platforms for systemic in vivo delivery of nucleic acids, oral delivery of biologic therapeutics, and the design of synthetic vaccines. These nanotechnology-mediated biomolecular delivery strategies hold significant potential for various medicinal applications.

Jinjun Shi is an Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School and directs the Laboratory for Nanoengineering & Drug Delivery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has extensive experience in the research fields of nanomedicine and biomaterials, and has developed many multifunctional nanoparticle platforms for biomedical applications. The development of immunonanotherapeutics by using targeted polymeric nanoparticles has formed the foundation of one biopharmaceutical company Selecta Biosciences, and resulted in the first-in-human clinical trial of a synthetic nanoparticle vaccine (SEL-068) for smoking cessation. Dr. Shi has authored more than 35 publications and is an inventor of over 30 issued/pending patents worldwide. He has also received many awards, such as the NIH K99/R00 career development award, the Movember-Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award, and the Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award.at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His research involves a highly interdisciplinary combination of nanotechnology, microfluidics, biointerfaces, drug delivery, and immunotherapy. In particular, we are interested in the development of innovative biomaterials and nanoparticle platforms for the safe and effective delivery of biomacromolecules (e.g., siRNA, miRNA, and protein) and small molecular drugs for biomedical research and applications.