In a first-of-its-kind research breakthrough, a team of UMass scientists including the Center for Bioactive Delivery's (CBD) Leonid Pobezinsky and Elena Pobezinskaya have analyzed and described what they call the “mosquito effect,” which sheds light on how certain pathogens, such as cancerous tumor cells, can outwit the body’s immune system.
Thai Thayumanavan, Director of the Center of Bioactive Delivery.
"From mice to immortalization of normal breast cells." With Joe Jerry, Center for Bioactive Delivery and Models to Medicine.
Ernest Pharmaceuticals, an IALS startup, team has demonstrated in theory that a protein antigen from a childhood vaccine can be delivered into the cells of a malignant tumor to refocus the body’s immune system against the cancer, effectively halting it and preventing its recurrence. The bacteria-based intracellular delivering (ID) system uses a non-toxic form of Salmonella that releases a drug, in this case a vaccine antigen, after it’s inside a solid-tumor cancer cell.
Four UMass Amherst faculty scholars representing a range of disciplines in the natural and health sciences have been recognized nationally and globally in Research.com’s 2023 list of top scientists and also earned high rankings in their specific fields of research. All four of these researchers are affiliated with an IALS Research Center, with all three Centers being represented on this list.
Exploit decades of mechanistic understandings to develop new routes to synthesis of RNA in high yield and purity Specifically, develop approaches targeting mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, CRISPR therapies and technologies, and advances in long noncoding RNAs, with a particular eye towards inexpensively eliminating the undesired innate immune response.
IALS is excited to announce the inaugural one-year translational Graduate Student Fellows for 2024!
We define translational research as work that aims to inform or to develop product candidates, technologies, and services that deliver benefits to human health and well-being.
Cana Park is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, and a member of the Models to Medicine Center and the Center for Bioactive Delivery in IALS
Professor Sela is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science, and a member of the Center for Bioactive Delivery and the Models to Medicine Center in IALS.
Elena Pobezinskaya is a faculty member in the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences and member of the Center for Bioactive Delivery and the Models to Medicine Center.
Craig Martin, professor of chemistry, Models to Medicine Center, and Sarah Perry, associate professor of chemical engineering, Center for Bioactive Delivery, recently received support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an innovative approach toward efficiently, reliably and cost effectively synthesizing novel strands of specialty “long RNA.” Future genetic research into everything from basic cell biology to advanced therapeutics depends in part on having just the sort of complex, modified RNA that Martin and Perry will be working to make widely available.
Paul Katz, professor of biology and member of the Center for Bioactive Delivery (CBD), has been awarded a $3.1 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke to advance knowledge on human brain development by using an unusual subject: the brain of the sea slug.
Sarah Perry, associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Bioactive Delivery, Models to Medicine Center, has been chosen as one of two national recipients of the 2024 American Chemical Society (ACS) Macro Letters/Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Young Investigator Award for her contributions to the field of polyelectrolyte self-assembly and the incorporation of proteins into these assemblies.
S. Thai Thayumanavan, a biomedical engineer, distinguished professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering, director of Center for Bioactive Delivery, has used a nanogel-based carrier designed in his lab to deliver a drug exclusively to the liver of obese mice, effectively reversing their diet-induced disease.
This symposium will feature the students who participated in the 2024 IALS Translational Graduate Student Assistantship. They will share the steps they have taken towards translation, their pathway from basic research to an innovative product, and reflect on their experience and what they have learned.