Event
BIOE Seminar: Engineering Novel Antibody/Nanoparticle Platforms for Imaging & Therapeutics
Friday, February 25, 2022
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
A. James Clark Hall Forum (Room #1101)
Alyssa Tomlinson
awolice@umd.edu
Andrew Tsourkas
Department of Bioengineering
Targeted Imaging, Therapeutics and Nanomedicine (TITAN) Lab
University of Pennsylvania
Please note: This seminar will be held in a hybrid format, with in-person attendance in the A. James Clark Hall Forum (#1101). This seminar is being held in conjunction with the grand opening of the University of Maryland's Olympus Discovery Center. We invite and encourage all in-person seminar attendees to arrive at 8:30 a.m. to enjoy light refreshments and networking.
Engineering Novel Antibody and Nanoparticle Platforms for Imaging and Therapeutic Applications
A major goal of Dr. Tsourkas' research program is to develop novel molecular imaging agents and targeted therapeutics. In particular, his team is (i) developing new nanoformulations for diverse biomedical applications, including image-guided surgery, photodynamic therapy, and sonodynamic therapy; (ii) investigating new targeting strategies that maximize specificity and sensitivity or improve the accumulation and penetration of nanomaterials within tumors; and (iii) developing new bioconjugation techniques that enable the highly efficient, site-specific labeling of proteins, including antibodies. These bioconjugation tools have allowed Dr. Tsourkas and his team to pursue unique bispecific antibody applications and has enabled the efficient delivery of antibodies into the cytoplasm of living cells. Dr. Tsourkas and his lab hope that these tools will help facilitate the movement towards more personalized medicine, whereby treatments are tailored to individual patients.
About the Speaker
Andrew Tsourkas, Ph.D. is a Professor and Undergraduate Chair of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1997 from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Tech/Emory University joint Ph.D. program in 2002. He conducted a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Radiology at Harvard University, before joining Penn in 2004. Dr. Tsourkas is currently the Co-Director for the Center for Targeted Therapeutics and Translational Nanomedicine as well as the Chemical and Nanoparticle Synthesis Core. He was a recipient of the Coulter Foundation Early Career Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and was elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
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The seminar will begin at 9:00 a.m. as scheduled. Following the seminar, guests are invited to take part in a tour of the Olympus Discovery Center facilities located in Clark Hall. If you wish to attend the tour portion of this event, we kindly ask that you RSVP online.
Seminar title and biography coming soon.
