Fan Zhang, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pharmaceutics in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, has received a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study the role of myeloid cells – critical mediators of inflammation – in nanotherapeutic treatments of diseases like cancer, sepsis, and autoimmune disorders.
Myeloid cells such as inflammatory monocytes are a type of immune cell originating in bone marrow. These cells are one of the first to arrive at cancerous tumor sites and other areas of inflammation, making them important actors in the way the body reacts to inflammation-targeting nanotherapeutic drugs. Zhang’s team will study the mechanisms behind how inflammatory monocytes help nanoparticles target inflamed tissue. The research will pave the way in developing a translatable nanotherapeutic treatment that targets myeloid cells in treating patients for inflammatory disorders.
Zhang’s lab utilizes techniques in materials science, cell engineering, and immunology in determining the fundamental principles governing how nanoparticles interact with immune cells—methods that aid in ushering in the future of nanomedicine, a relatively new field that aims to use nanotechnology to improve conventional drug molecules.
“Since its first use in clinics in the 1990s, nanotherapeutics have been at the forefront of clinical translation for treating a variety of diseases. The Achilles’ heel of nanomedicine is the lack of tissue- or cell-specificity, resulting from our limited understanding of the fate of nanomedicine after being administrated into our body,” Zhang explained. “This funding will allow us to utilize cutting-edge techniques to understand how nanoparticles, when loaded with different types of drug molecules, interact with immune cells that are recruited to the inflamed tissue and deliver drugs to the disease region.”
Zhang, whose work has led to the creation of four patents and two start-up companies, said he is grateful to receive the support of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, or NIGMS, to conduct this research.
“Receiving this NIGMS grant is a milestone for my team, which is not possible without hard work from my lab members, support from my mentors, and the KL2 Career Development Award from the UF Clinical and Translation Science Insititute. This R01-equivalent grant will secure funding for our lab in the next five years,” he said. “Personally, this award will allow me to put more time and effort into where my passion lies: doing research and mentoring trainees. It also offers opportunities for more collaboration.”