Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Research Seminar

Speaker:
Chris Rodell, Drexel Biomedical Engineering
https://biomed.drexel.edu/labs/tim

Abstract:

Supramolecular Delivery Systems for Local and Systemic Immune Modulation
Christopher B. Rodell, PhD, Assistant Professor
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Drexel University

Biomaterials continue to evolve as engineered tools for interactively instructing biological systems, aiding in the understanding and treatment of disease. Biomaterials should be designed to display appropriate bioinstructive stimuli, ranging from mechanical cues to the presentation of encapsulated therapeutics that modulate the body’s response to tissue injury or disease. Supramolecular chemistries enable the self-assembly of soft biomaterials that undergo dynamic structural rearrangement, well suited the for controlled release of included therapeutics. Here, I will discuss the development of supramolecular hydrogels as a platform for minimally-invasive therapeutic delivery. Applications include the systemic or local delivery of immunomodulatory drugs to re-orient the immune microenvironment for cancer immunotherapy and the treatment of organ injury.

Dr. Rodell is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Health and Science Systems at Drexel University. He conducted his doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, working on the development and in vivo application of injectable supramolecular hydrogels. Following completion of his PhD, Chris was a postdoctoral scholar with the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, exploring drug delivery platforms for innate immune activation and their applications toward cancer immunotherapy. To date, Chris has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, 7 patent applications, and numerous editorials. He has served as an editor for Science Translational Medicine, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, and ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. His recent awards include a Materials Research Society Gold Award, an Individual Biomedical Research Award from the Hartwell Foundation, an NIH R35 MIRA, and a Career Development Award from the American Heart Association. His research aims to better understand the pathophysiology of organ failure and develop biomaterials to intercept disease progression, particularly through immune modulation. 

Biography:
Dr. Rodell is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Health and Science Systems at Drexel University. He conducted his doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, working on the development and in vivo application of injectable supramolecular hydrogels. Following completion of his PhD, Chris was a postdoctoral scholar with the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, exploring drug delivery platforms for innate immune activation and their applications toward cancer immunotherapy. To date, Chris has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, 7 patent applications, and numerous editorials. He has served as an editor for Science Translational Medicine, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, and ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. His recent awards include a Materials Research Society Gold Award, an Individual Biomedical Research Award from the Hartwell Foundation, an NIH R35 MIRA, and a Career Development Award from the American Heart Association. His research aims to better understand the pathophysiology of organ failure and develop biomaterials to intercept disease progression, particularly through immune modulation.

Faculty/Lab Website: https://biomed.drexel.edu/labs/tim/
For more information, please contact the faculty lead, Dr. Vinay Abhyankar.