Drug Delivery and Molecular Sensing (DDMS) Research Program Project Summary The Drug Delivery and Molecular Sensing (DDMS) Research Program aims to provide physical science/engineering and technology solutions to advance the understanding of cancer biology, and to improve prevention, detection and treatment of cancers. These solutions integrate Purdue Center for Cancer Research (PCCR) Foundational Disciplines into collaborative studies that are launched from DDMS-associated expertise, including molecular conjugates and nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery, new imaging modalities for surgical guidance and drug sensitivity, and new in vitro tumor models to study cancer biology. To accomplish future goals, the DDMS Program will pursue three scientific themes that are embodied in its specific aims.
Aim 1 : Next generation therapeutic delivery systems to precisely administer anti-cancer agents Aim 2: Ultra-precision sensing and imaging techniques and devices for early detection and prognosis Aim 3: Innovative enabling technologies for research across the cancer spectrum The program is comprised of 31 faculty members from 13 Purdue University academic departments. Members of the DDMS Program synergistically collaborate with other PCCR Research Programs, as demonstrated by strong inter-programmatic publications (20%). DDMS is highly productive, having generated 370 cancer-relevant publications between July 2015 and July 2019. Among these publications, 58% represent collaborative work. DDMS efforts are sustained by $4.6 million (direct) in peer-reviewed, cancer-relevant funding in the last budget year. In addition, 86 patents and five start-up companies were created. To facilitate this highly multidisciplinary Research Program, the Program Leaders (Drs. Bumsoo Han and Yoon Yeo) have been working on promoting collaborative research and integrating biological sciences and engineering disciplines. Notable outcomes of investigations during the current funding period are new nanoparticle formulations targeting both cancer and immune cells within the tumor microenvironment, ligand-targeted imaging and therapeutic agents, a new intraoperative image-guidance technique based on spectroscopy, and a new imaging modality to assess the chemosensitivity of tumor tissues. In addition, new in vitro tumor models have been developed to identify and validate new drug targets for pancreatic cancer and to perform research on drug resistance and tumor onset for breast cancer. During the next funding period, DDMS leadership will pursue four initiatives: (1) continued excellence in drug delivery and molecular sensing; (2) accelerated validation of sensing and imaging technologies with preclinical models; (3) building on computational and data science expertise for cancer biology and drug discovery; and (4) development of greater strength in physical science/engineering for oncology.
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