Joel Sunshine
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Biomedical Engineering
T cells, the immune cells that kill infected or cancerous cells, only act when another cell shows them a fragment of a foreign or tumor protein. That display step is called antigen presentation, and it is carried out by MHC molecules, surface proteins that hold up protein fragments for inspection.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
immunoengineering
nanoparticles
poly(beta-amino ester)
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through May 2029
What they work on
- Test whether nanoparticle delivery of plasmid DNA encoding MHC transactivators, master switches for antigen-display genes, or interferon-pathway genes increases antigen presentation by tumor cells.
- Determine whether delivering TLR agonists, immunoproteasome components, costimulatory molecules and dendritic-cell-polarizing transcription factors into antigen presenting cells improves their antigen presentation.
- Synthesize and screen a library of linear, branched and lipophilic poly(beta-amino ester) polymers for efficient, cell-type-specific gene delivery to antigen presenting cells versus tumor cells, and confirm specificity in vivo.
- Combinatorially evaluate tumor-directed versus APC-directed nanoparticles in in vitro co-culture for their ability to boost antigen-specific T cell responses, selecting the strongest candidates for animal studies.
- Measure how optimized APM-NPs reshape local and systemic antitumor immunity in an adoptive transfer mouse model, using high-dimensional flow cytometry and a multiplex immunofluorescence panel built for mouse FFPE tissue.
- Test whether local APM-NP delivery combined with checkpoint inhibition, which releases the brakes on T cells, provides therapeutic benefit in two mouse models of cancer.
- Disseminate immunoengineering tools and concepts through the JH-TIE workshop and course, a seminar series, a dedicated website, and the Frameshift educational hackathon to seed new collaborations between immunologists and engineers.
More about the research
Most vaccines work by injecting an antigen plus an adjuvant, a substance that generally stirs up the immune system. Far fewer technologies try to directly boost the display machinery itself. Work here centers on building nanoparticles that reprogram how cells present antigen, in order to steer T-cell responses in cancer, infection and autoimmunity, alongside a role in training researchers who bridge immunology and engineering.
Why it matters
Current vaccines and cancer immunotherapies often fail because tumors and infected cells hide from T cells by presenting too little antigen. A flexible, genetically programmable nanoparticle platform that turns antigen presentation up in specific cell types could, if it works in these mouse studies, provide a new way to enhance vaccination and to make tumors more responsive to checkpoint inhibitors, with potential extension to viral infection and autoimmunity. The training core aims to lower the barrier for immunologists and engineers to work together on such problems.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mostafa Yazdi
Missouri University of Science and Technology, MO·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Evaluate the anti-tumor activity of the Tumor-derived Cell-membrane Coated NanoVaccine (TCC-NV), adjuvant-loaded particles wrapped in tumor cell membranes, in immune-competent mouse models of triple-negative breast cancer.
Sudeep Kumar
Albany Medical College, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether delivering protein antigens to human FcγRI, an antibody-tail receptor on macrophages and dendritic cells, promotes cross-presentation, using an antigen-binding fragment of an anti-hFcγRI antibody that avoids engaging other Fc receptors.
Scott McPherson
University of Minnesota, MN·Microbiology & Immunology
Define how retinal microglia, especially the subset that acts as dendritic cells, present retinal self-antigens to T cells and drive autoimmune disease, using R161H mice with transgenic tracking and depletion of dendritic cells and microglia.
The school
Johns Hopkins University: 100 labs on PI Pages, $4.1B a year on research, 622 research doctorates a year.
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