Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering Spring Seminar Series: Xizhen Lian

Description

Xizhen Lian, an assistant research scientist in the Johns Hopkins Institute for Nanobiotechnology, will give a talk titled "Molecular Design and Engineering of Nanomaterials for Targeted In Vivo Delivery of Biomolecules and Gene Editors" for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Abstract:

The emergence of protein and nucleic acid therapeutics is revolutionizing medicine, offering the ability to modulate all steps of the central dogma of molecular biology and presenting unprecedented potential to treat or cure diseases previously deemed undruggable. However, their large molecular size and susceptibility to biological scavengers often result in inefficient accumulation in target tissues and suboptimal therapeutic efficacy when administered without suitable delivery systems.

In this talk, I will address these challenges through the development of targeted non-viral delivery vehicles using molecular design and engineering strategies. I will first highlight the rational design and synthesis of porous metal-organic frameworks as single-molecule traps for enzyme encapsulation, with a focus on thermodynamic and kinetic controls over the porosity and particle size of these materials. Next, I will introduce the development of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) as targeted delivery vehicles for RNA therapeutics and CRISPR gene editors, specifically for applications in bone marrow, lungs, liver, and eyes. Key topics will include compositional and surface engineering of LNPs, structure–activity relationship (SAR) analyses, and the characterization of the material–biology interface. Overall, this talk will provide insights into the design principles of nanomaterials for targeted delivery and their therapeutic potential across diverse biological contexts and disease models.