| Meet the Staff
Zhengrong (Rong) Cui, PhD
Faculty Rank:
Research Assistant Professor
Department:
Radiation Medicine (OHSU)
*Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Oregon State University)
*Primary appointment
PhD Degree:
University of Kentucky, Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2002
Post-Doctoral Fellowship:
University of Pittsburgh, Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2004
Research Summary:
Zhengrong Cui’s research focuses on macromolecule delivery. The following are a couple of examples.
Funding/Grants:
NIH NIAID R21 AI070538 (PI)
"A tri-antigen nasal anthrax vaccine against toxins and vegetative bacilli"
NIH NIAID R03 AI065774 (PI)
"Anthrax DNA vaccine for noninvasive immunization onto the skin"
NIH NIAID R43 AI077119 (Co-PI)
"Liposomal adjuvant for vaccine development"
OR_CAL Chemical, Inc. (PI)
"Evaluation of the anti-tumor activity of a proprietary compound (V)"
Non-invasive immunization onto the skin:
Skin has evolved to protect not only by acting as a physical barrier, but also by its role in our powerful immune system. As a frontline of the host’s defense against pathogens, skin is well equipped for immune surveillance. Thus, targeting vaccine antigens to the skin epidermis should be able to efficiently induce strong immune responses. However, the forbidden barrier posed by the stratum corneum layer in the epidermis prevents effective entrance of vaccine antigens into the epidermis. Although the immune responses are rather weak, non-invasive immunization onto the skin has proven to be a viable immunization modality. Thus, we are interested in enhancing the immune responses from this route and in elucidating the mechanism of immune induction.
Cancer chemo-immunotherapy:
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the US. Chemotherapy remains an important cancer treatment modality. Traditionally, cytotoxic molecules that activate only a single tumor-killing mechanism are used. Combination chemotherapy is now a common practice, which involves treating patients with several medicines that differ in their killing mechanisms. Also, growing and compelling evidence suggests that the immune system fights against tumors. However, there are still many major hurdles in developing efficacious cancer vaccines. We are interested in searching for molecules that are tumoricidal and immuno-stimulatory (-modulatory) and delivering them in combination into tumors to improve the resultant anti-tumor activity.
Links of Interest:
• Localized irradiation of tumors prior to synthetic dsRNA therapy enhanced the resultant anti-tumor activity
|
|
;){kind=link}