Laboratory of nano- and translational medicine
Applying engineering sciences to cancer research
The central theme of our research program is to apply advances from engineering (chemical engineering, materials science, biomedical engineering and nanotechnology) to cancer research
Research Directions
Preclinical and clinical investigations evaluating nanotherapeutics to improve radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy
Development of nanoparticle therapeutics to improve systemic cancer treatment
Utilizing nanoparticles to improve cancer immunotherapy
Utilizing tissue engineering techniques to develop models of cancer metastasis
3D printing of novel medical devices
Clinical translation of a novel circulating tumor cell capture technology
Research directions
Preclinical and clinical investigations evaluating nanotherapeutics to improve radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy
Development of nanoparticle therapeutics to improve cancer treatment
Utilizing nanoparticles to improve cancer immunotherapy
Utilizing tissue engineering techniques to develop models of cancer metastasis
3D printing of novel medical devices
Clinical translation of a novel circulating tumor cell capture technology
Project
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Our Team
With work previously done by a former lab member, we have developed a powerful tool for use in the identification and characterization of the processes in our model system. A major advantage of this development is its improved sensitivity, which allows it to detect subtle dynamic property changes in response to our experimentation.
People
Our people are at the core of what makes the Andrew Wang Lab UNC such a unique and fulfilling place to work. We’re proud of the diversity of our staff, with each member contributing their unique skills to the projects we’re working on. Together, we’ve planned and executed some of the most innovative and cutting edge experiments. Find out more about our team members below.
Andrew Wang
PI
Dr. Andrew Wang received his M.D. from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program at Harvard Medical School. He received his nanomedicine training under the co-mentorship of Dr. Robert Langer and Dr. Omid Farokhzad at MIT. Dr. Wang is Associate Professor and Direction of Clinical and Translational Research in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of North Carolina (UNC). He also co-directs the Carolina Cancer Nanotechnology Training Program (T32)
Kyle Wagner
Lab manager
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Yu Mi
Post-Doc
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Tilden Hagan
MD-PhD student
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Kinman Au
Post-Doc
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Shaheen Sendi
post-doc
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Bo Sun
Post-doc
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Feifei Yang
Post-Doc
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Yusra Medik
post-doc
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Lei Wang
post-doc
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Contact Us
Thanks for your interest in our research. Get in touch with us for any questions or comments regarding our work and publications. We’d love to hear from you.
984-974-8425
Published Work
The Fruits of Our Labor
Original research
Wan X, Min Y, Bludau H, Keith A, Sheiko S, Jordan R, Wang AZ, Sokolsky-Papkov M, Kabanov A. Drug Combination Synergy in Worm-Like Polymeric Micelles Improves Treatment Outcome for Small Cell and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. ACS Nano, in press.
Au KM, Tripathy A, Lin CP, Wagner K, Hong S, Wang AZ*, Park S. Bespoke Pretargeted Nano Radioimmunotherapy for the Treatment of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. ACS Nano, in press. *Co-corresponding.
Tian J, Min Y, Rodgers Z, Au KM, Hagan CT, Zhang M, Roche K, Yang F, Wagner K, Wang AZ. Co-delivery of paclitaxel and cisplatin with biocompatible PLGA-PEG nanoparticles enhances chemoradiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer models. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, in press
Mavroidis P, Pearlstein KA, Dooley J, Sun J, Saripalli S, Das SK, Wang AZ, Chen RC. Fitting NTCP models to bladder doses and acute urinary symptoms during post-prostatectomy radiotherapy. Radiation Oncology, in press
Min Y, Tian S, Eblan M, Roche KC, McKinnon KP, Zhang L, Zhang T, Tepper J, Vincent BG, Serody JS, Wang AZ. Antigen capturing nanoparticles improve the abscopal effect and cancer immunotherapy. Nature Nanotechnology, 2017 Jun 26. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2017.113. [Epub ahead of print].
Caster JM, Yu SK, Patel AN, Newman NJ, Lee ZJ, Warner SB, Wagner KT, Roche KC, Tian X, Min Y, Wang AZ. Effect of particle size on the biodistribution, toxicity, and efficacy of drug-loaded polymeric nanoparticles in chemoradiotherapy. Nanomedicine NBM. 2017 Mar 11. pii: S1549-9634(17)30044-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2017.03.002. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28300658
Tian X, Nguyen M, Foote HP, Caster JM, Roche KC, Peter C, Wu P, Jayaraman L, Garmey E, Tepper JE, Eliasof S, Wang AZ. CRLX101, a nanoparticle-drug conjugate containing camptothecin improves rectal cancer chemoradiotherapy in mice through inhibition of both DNA repair and HIF-1α. Cancer Research, 2017 Jan 1;77(1):112-122.
Huang H, Shi H, Liu J, Min Y, Wang Y, Wang AZ, Wang J, Liu Y. Co-delivery of All-trans-retinoic Acid Enhances Anti-Metastasis Effect of Albumin-Bound Paclitaxel Nanoparticles. ChemComm, 2016 Dec 20;53(1):212-215..
Tian J, Rodgers Z, Min Y, Wan X, Qiu H, Mi Y, Tian X, Wagner K, Caster JM, Qi Y, Roche K, Zhang T, Cheng J, Wang AZ. Nanoparticle delivery of chemotherapy combination regimen improves the therapeutic efficacy in mouse models of lung cancer. Nanomedicine NBM, 2016 Nov 21. pii: S1549-9634(16)30199-X.
Lian J, Shao Y, Potter LD, Chen RC, Holmes JA, Pryser EA, Shen J, Shen D, Wang AZ. Prostate Deformation from Inflatable Rectal Probe Cover and Dosimetric Effects in Prostate Seed Implant Brachytherapy. Medical Physics, 2016 Dec;43(12):6569.
Diao K, Lobos EA, Pearlstein KA, Yirmibesoglu E, Basak R, Hendrix LH, Barbosa B, Miller S, Goldin GH, Wang AZ, Chen RC. Patient-reported quality of life during definitive and post-prostatectomy image-guided radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Practical Radiation Oncology, 2017 Mar - Apr;7(2):e117-e124. doi: 10.1016/j.prro.2016.08.004. Epub 2016 Aug 12.
Rose TL, Deal AM, Ladoire S, Créhange G, Galsky MD, Rosenberg JE, Bellmunt J, Wimalasingham A, Wong YN, Harshman LC, Chowdhury S, Niegisch G, Liontos M, Yu EY, Pal SK, Chen RC, Wang AZ, Nielsen ME, Smith AB, Milowsky MI. Patterns of Bladder Preservation Therapy Utilization for Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer. Bladder Cancer. 2016 Oct 27;2(4):405-413.
Wang GD, Nguyen HT, Chen H, Cox PB, Wang L, Nagata K, Hao Z, Wang A, Li Z, Xie J. X-Ray Induced Photodynamic Therapy: A Combination of Radiotherapy and Photodynamic Therapy. Theranostics. 2016 Oct 1;6(13):2295-2305.
Wang C, Sun W, Wright G, Wang AZ, Gu Z. Inflammation-Triggered Cancer Immunotherapy by Programmed Delivery of CpG and Anti-PD1 Antibody. Advanced Materials, 2016 Oct;28(40):8912-8920.
Tian X, Warner SB, Wagner KT, Caster JM, Zhang T, Ohana P, Gabizon AA, Wang AZ. Preclinical evaluation of Promitil®, a radiation-responsive liposomal formulation of mitomycin C prodrug, in chemoradiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys., 2016 Nov 1;96(3):547-55. PMID: 27681751.
Yao H, Qiu H, Shao Z, Wang G, Wang J, Yao Y, Xin Y, Zhou M, Wang AZ, Zhang L. Nanoparticle formulation of small DNA molecules, Dbait, improves the sensitivity of hormone-independent prostate cancer to radiotherapy. Nanomedicine NBM. 2016 Jul 4. pii: S1549-9634(16)30083-1.
Gao Y, Shao Y, Lian J, Wang AZ, Chen RC, Shen D. Accurate Segmentation of CT Male Pelvic Organs via Regression-based Deformable Models and Multi-task Random Forests. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 2016 Jun;35(6):1532-43. Epub 2016 Jan 18. PMID: 26800531
Au KM, Satterlee A, Min Y, Tian X, Kim YS, Caster JM, Zhang L, Zhang T, Huang L, Wang AZ. Folate-targeted pH-responsive calcium zolendronate nanoscale metal-organic frameworks:turning a bone antiresorptive agent into an anticancer therapeutic. Biomaterials, 2016 Mar;82:178-93. PMID: 26763733.
Au KM, Hyder SN, Wagner K, Shi C, Kim YS, Caster JM, Tian X, Min Y, Wang AZ. Direct observation of early-stage high-dose radiotherapy-induced vascular injury via basement membrane-targeting nanoparticles. Small. 2015 Dec;11(48):6404-10. PMID: 26577747
Tian X, Lara H, Wagner KT, Saripalli S, Hyder SN, Foote M, Sethi M, Wang E, Caster JM, Zhang L, Wang AZ. Improving DNA double-strand repair inhibitor KU55933 therapeutic index in cancer radiotherapy using nanoparticle drug delivery. Nanoscale, 2015, Dec 21;7(47):20211-9. PMID: 26575637.
Au KM, Min Y, Tian X, Zhang L, Perello V, Caster JM, Wang AZ. Improving cancer chemoradiotherapy treatment by dual controlled release of wortmannin and docetaxel in polymeric nanoparticles. ACS Nano, 2015 Sep 22;9(9):8976-96. PMID: 26267360
Zhu X, Driewer J, Li S, Lei Y, Verma V, Cullip T, Zhang M, Zhang Q, Wang AZ, Chang S, Zhou SM, Enke C. Fabricating Cerrobend Grids with 3D Printing for Spatially Modulated Radiation Therapy: A Feasibility Study. Medical Physics, 2015 Nov;42(11):6269. doi: 10.1118/1.4932223.
Rose TL, Deal AM, Basch E, Godley PA, Rathmell WK, Kim WY, Whang YE, Dunn MW, Wang A, Chen RC, Nielsen ME, Pruthi RS, Wallen EM, Woods ME, Smith AB, Milowsky MI. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy administration and time to cystectomy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer: An evaluation of transitions between academic and community settings. Urol Oncol. 2015 Sep;33(9):386.e1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2015.05.028.
Wang EC, Min Y, Palm RC, Fiordalisi J, Wagner KT, Hyder N, Tian X, Moore D, Caster J, Cox AD, Wang AZ. Nanoparticle formulations of histone deacetylase inhibitors for effective chemoradiotherapy in solid tumors. Biomaterials. 2015, May;51:208-15. doi: 10.1016
Wang J, Zheng J, Tang T, Zhu F, Yao Y, Xu J, Wang AZ, Zhang L. A Randomized Pilot Trial Comparing Position Emission Tomography (PET)-Guided Dose Escalation Radiotherapy to Conventional Radiotherapy in Chemoradiotherapy Treatment of Locally Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. PlosOne, 2015 Apr 27;10(4):e0124018
Caster JM, Sethi M, Kowalczyk S, Wang E, Tian X, Hyder SN, Wagner KT, Zhang YA, Kapadia C, Au KM and Wang AZ. Nanoparticle delivery of chemosensitizers to improve chemotherapy efficacy without incurring additional toxicity. Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 2805-2811
Byrne JD, Jajja MR, O’Neill AT, Bickford LR, Keeler AW, Hyder N, Wagner K, Deal A, Little RE, Moffitt RE, Stack C, Nelson M, Brooks C, Lee W, Luft C, Napier ME, Darr D, Anders RC, Stack R, Tepper JE, Wang AZ, Zamboni WC, Yeh JJ, DeSimone JM. Local Iontophoretic Administration of Cytotoxic Therapies to Solid Tumors. Science Translational Medicine. 2015 Feb 4;7(273):273ra14.
Sethi M, Sukumar R, Karve S, Werner ME, Wang EC, Moore DT, Kowalczyk SR, Zhang L, Wang AZ. Effect of Drug Release Kinetics on Nanoparticle Therapeutic Efficacy and Toxicity. Nanoscale, 2014, 6 (4), 2321 – 2327
Della Rocca J, Werner ME, Kramer SA, Huxford-Phillips RC, Sukumar R, Cummings ND, Vivero-Escoto JL, Wang AZ*, Lin W*. Polysilsesquioxane Nanoparticles for Triggered Release of Cisplatin and Effective Cancer Chemoradiotherapy. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology Biology and Medicine, 2014 Jul 17. pii: S1549-9634(14)00391-8. . *Corresponding authors. 2014, 4 pages.
Chen RC, Hendrix LH, Carpenter WR, Bainbridge J, Wang AZ, Nielsen ME, Godley PA. Receipt of guideline-concordant treatment in elderly prostate cancer patients. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys., 2014 Feb: 88 (2):332-338.
Xu Z, Chen RC, Wang AZ, Kress A, Foskey M, Qin A, Cullip T, Tracton G, Chang S, Tepper J, Yan D, and Chaney E. Comparison of User-Directed and Automatic Mapping of the Planned Isocenter to Treatment Space for Prostate IGRT," International Journal of Biomedical Imaging, vol. 2013, Article ID 892152, 2013.
32.Chu KS, Schorzman AN, Finniss MC, Bowerman CJ, Peng L, Luft JC, Madden AJ, Wang AZ, Zamboni WC, Desimone JM. Nanoparticle drug loading as a design parameter to improve docetaxel pharmacokinetics and efficacy. Biomaterials, 2013 Nov;34(33):8424-9.
33.Wang EC, Sinnott R, Werner ME, Sethi M, Whitehurst AW, Wang AZ. Differential Cell Responses to Nanoparticle Docetaxel and Small Molecule Docetaxel at a Sub-Therapeutic Dose Range. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology Biology and Medicine. 2013. Aug 3. pii: S1549-9634(13)00353-5.
34.Gallagher SA, Smith AB, Matthews JE, Potter CW, Woods ME, Raynor M, Wallen EM, Kimryn Rathmell W, Whang YE, Kim WY, Godley PA, Chen RC, Wang A, You C, Barocas DA, Pruthi RS, Nielsen ME, Milowsky MI. Roadmap for the development of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Genitourinary OncoLogy Database-UNC GOLD. Urol Oncol. 2013 Feb 19 pii:S1078-1439(12)
35.Werner ME, Cummings ND, Sukumar R, Sethi M, Wang EC, Moore DT, Dees EC, Wang AZ. Preclinical evaluation of Genexol-PM, a nanoparticle formulation of paclitaxel, as a novel radiosensitizer for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 2013 Jul 1;86(3):463-8.
36.Stokes WA, Hendrix LH, Royce TJ, Allen IM, Godley PA, Wang AZ, Chen RC. Racial differences in time from prostate cancer diagnosis to treatment initiation, a population-based study. Cancer, 2013 Jul 1;119(13):2486-93.
37.Karve S, Werner ME, Sukumar R, Cummings ND, Copp JA, Wang EC, Li C, Chen RC, Pacold ME, Wang AZ. Revival of the Abandoned Therapeutic Wortmannin by Nanoparticle Drug Delivery. Proceedings of the National of Academy of Sciences, 2012 May 22;109(21):8230-5.
38.Chen RC, Rosenman JG, Hoffman LG, Chiu WK, Wang AZ, Pruthi RS, Wallen EM, Crane JM, Kim WY, Rathmell WK, Godley PA, Whang YE. Phase I study of concurrent weekly docetaxel, high-dose intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for high-risk prostate cancer. British Journal of Urology. 2012 Sep 27.
39.Werner ME, Foote MB, Wang AZ. Chemoradiotherapy of Human Tumors: Novel Approaches from Nanomedicine. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 2012;18(19):2830-7.
40.Di Pasqua AJ, Huckle JE, Kim JK, Chung Y, Wang AZ, Jay M, Lu X. Preparation of Neutron Activatable Holmium Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer Metastases. Small, Apr 10;8(7):997-1000.
41.Holmes JA, Wang ZA, Hoffman KE, Hendrix LH, Rosenman JG, Carpenter WR, Godley PA, Chen RC. Is Primary Prostate Cancer Treatment Influenced by Likelihood of Extraprostatic Disease? A Patterns of Care Study Using the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Database. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 2012 Jan 31.
42.Werner ME, Karve S, Sukumar R, Cummings ND, Copp JA, Chen RC, Zhang T, Wang AZ. Folate targeted nanoparticle delivery of chemo- and radio-therapeutics for the treatment of ovarian cancer peritoneal metastasis. Biomaterials, 2011 Nov;32(33):8548-54.
43.Werner ME, Copp JA, Karve S, Cummings ND, Sukumar R, Napier M, Chen RC, Cox AD, Wang AZ. Folate-targeted polymeric nanoparticle formulation of docetaxel is an effective molecularly targeted radiosensitizer with efficacy dependent on the timing of radiotherapy. ACS Nano, 2011 Nov 22;5(11):8990-8.
44.Karve S, Werner ME, Cummings ND, Sukumar R, Wang EC, Zhang YA, Wang AZ. Formulation of diblock polymeric nanoparticles through nanoprecipitation technique. J Vis Exp. 2011 Sep 20;(55)
45.Merkel TJ, Jones SW, Herlihy KP, Kersey FR, Shields AR, Napier M, Wang AZ, Bear JE, DeSimone JM. Using Mechano-biological Mimicry to Extend Circulation Times of Red Blood Cell Replicas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011 Jan 11;108(2):586-91. PMCID: PMC3021010
46.Wang AZ, Yuet K, Zhang LF, Gu FX, Huynh-Le M, Radovic-Moreno AF, Kantoff PW, Bander NH, Langer R, Farokhzad OC. ChemRad Nanoparticles: A Novel Multifunctional Nanoparticle Platform for Targeted Delivery of Concurrent Chemoradiation. Nanomedicine, 2010 Apr; 5(3): 361-8. PMCID: PMC2901911
47.Wang AZ, Bagalkot V, Vasilliou C, Gu F, Alexis F, Zhang LF, Shaikh M, Yuet K, Cima M, Langer R, Kantoff PW, Bander NH, Jon S, Farokhzad OC. Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticle-Aptamer Bioconjugates for Combined Prostate Cancer Imaging and Therapy. ChemMedChem. 2008, 3(9):1311-5.
48.Wang AZ, Gu F, Zhang LF, Chan JM, Radovic-Moreno A, Shaikh MR, Farokhzad OC. Biofunctionalized Targeted Nanoparticles for Therapeutic Applications. Expert Opinions on Biological Therapy, 2008; 8(8):1063-70.
49.Gu F, Zhang LF, Teply B, Mann N, Wang A, Radovic-Moreno AF, Langer R, Farokhzad OC. Precise engineering of targeted nanoparticles by using self-assembled biointegrated block co-polymers. Proceedings of the National of Academy of Sciences, 2008, 105(7): 2586-91.
50.Tam WF, Gu TL, Chen J, Lee BH, Bullinger L, Fröhling S, Wang A, Monti S, Golub TR, Gilliland DG. Oncogenic tyrosine kinases upregulate Id1 in leukemic cells. Blood, 2008, 112(5):1981-92.
51.Zhang L, Chan J, Gu F, Rhee JW, Wang AZ, Radovic-Moreno A, Alexis F, Langer R, Farokhzad OC. Self-assembled lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles: A robust drug delivery platform. ACS Nano, 2008, 2(8); 1696-1702.
52.Alexis F, Basto P, Levy-Nissenbaum E, Radovic-Moreno AF, Zhang L, Pridgen E, Wang AZ, Marein SL, Westerhof K, Molnar LK, Farokhzad OC. HER-2-Targeted Nanoparticle-Affibody Bioconjugates for Cancer Therapy. ChemMedChem, 2008, 3(12): 1839-1843