Guest Seminar - Polymers for Vaccine Delivery
The primary research interest of our Polymeric Biomaterials Laboratory
(http://biomaterials.umn.edu/) is the design and characterization of novel
polymers to address unmet challenges in drug delivery. In this talk, I will discuss
two projects dedicated to the delivery of vaccines. The first project aims to develop a
polymer wafer to improve vaccination against HIV. We’ve shown that such wafer
can stabilize an HIV protein antigen and elicit antigen-specific mucosal immune
responses in mice through sublingual administration. The second project involves
the development of CAPRO™, a unique class of biodegradable polymer to enhance
the delivery of therapeutic cancer vaccine. CAPRO can be injected or implanted
without solvent, forming gel-like matrices in water, and enables the sustained
release of tumor antigens and immunostimulatory adjuvants. We have established
proof-of-principle in mice and are working toward clinical translation.
Chun Wang is on the faculty of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, College
of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, with courtesy appointment in
the Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy. His primary research interest
is polymer-based biomaterials for drug delivery. He has published 100 peer-reviewed
articles and reviews and has given over 120 invited talks. He served on the editorial
board of the Journal of Controlled Release (2006-2016) and is currently on the boards
of Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, Pharmaceutics, and Frontiers in Biomaterials
Science as the Associate Editor for Delivery Systems and Controlled Release. He is a
recipient of the CAREER Award by the US National Science Foundation, an Early
Career Translational Research Award from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, and
the University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship.