Second year PhD student Joseph Choy has received a postgraduate scholarship\u2013doctoral award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada<\/a> (NSERC) for his research proposal to further develop an injectable hydrogel for cancer-fighting applications. The hydrogel will focus on maintaining the efficacy of T cells, immune cells which originate and flourish in the lymph nodes, and hunt down and kill tumor cells within the body. These special cells lose their anti-tumor function and effectiveness when grown and reinfused into a patient using conventional methods.<\/p>\n Choy, co-mentored by Hai-Quan Mao<\/a>, professor in materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering and associate director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology<\/a> (INBT),<\/span> and Jonathan Schneck, <\/span>a professor of pathology, medicine, and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and associate member of INBT<\/span>, believes the loss of T cell functionality is due to the suboptimal environment in typical culture conditions. The new hydrogel, previously created by the Mao and Schneck labs, aims to mimic the T cells\u2019 natural environment which activates, expands, and sustains the T cells that recognize the target tumor cell. Choy\u2019s research will focus on determining which aspects of the hydrogel are most important for the T cells to maintain their cancer-killing functions.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing this information, our hope is to develop an injectable material which mimics the critical elements of the lymph nodes, the T cells\u2019 natural environment,\u201d said Choy.<\/p>\n Choy says their creation of this ideal microenvironment will allow the researchers to modulate various signals sensed by the T cells, opening the door for the study the myriad of cues that make the T cells effective cancer killers.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only does this give us an opportunity to treat cancer by enhancing the efficacy of the injected T cells,\u201d said Choy, \u201cbut it allows us to further investigate exactly what mechanisms the hydrogel is using to acclimate the cells to their new environment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To be considered for the fellowship, Choy submitted a proposal for the research with the guidance of Mao and Schneck, whose mentorship Choy says has been invaluable to his growth as a bioengineer at Hopkins. He aspires to be a professor and the NSERC fellowship is a big step in that journey.<\/p>\n NSERC works with universities, businesses, and non-profit organizations, funding researchers and engineers searching for scientific and technical breakthroughs to advance scientific and technical breakthroughs to benefit Canada and the world. For a full list of this year\u2019s recipients, visit this website<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n(Media release)
\nhttps:\/\/www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca\/Media-Media\/NewsDetail-DetailNouvelles_eng.asp?ID=1303<\/a><\/h6>\n(List of recipients)
\nhttps:\/\/www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca\/NSERC-CRSNG\/FundingDecisions-DecisionsFinancement\/ScholarshipsAndFellowships-ConcoursDeBourses\/index_eng.asp<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-39209","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_categories-awards-and-honors"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n