(3ba) Macromolecular Drug Delivery for Cancer Therapy

The use of macromolecular therapeutic agents e.g., monoclonal antibodies and nucleic acids has come to the forefront in recent years for the treatment of cancer. However, several challenges, including cell target specificity, intracellular delivery, low therapeutic payload, biologically active drug concentration and toxicity, still prevail for eliciting effective responses from cancer cells to therapy. My post-doctoral research with Professor Samir Mitragotri at University of California, Santa Barbara focuses on synthesis of advanced engineered nanoparticles with controlled size, shape and surface chemistry for targeted delivery of therapeutic drug macromolecules. My Ph.D. thesis research under the guidance of Professor Kaushal Rege at Arizona State University, Tempe focused on combination treatment strategies for non-viral gene delivery to induce apoptotic cancer cell death. In this poster session, I will highlight examples from my graduate and postdoctoral research which demonstrate the ability of synthetic nano-biomaterials in delivery of drugs, antibodies, and nucleic acids. I will present my vision for my independent research program at the interface of nanotechnology and cancer therapy that encompasses: 1) development of new carrier systems with specific cellular and sub-cellular target effects for cancer therapy, and 2) detailed mechanistic investigations of sub-cellular interactions between synthetic materials and sub-cellular organelles.

EDUCATION:

B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, 2003, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh            

M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, 2007, Montana State University (MSU), MT, USA          

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, 2011, Arizona State University (ASU), AZ, USA

EXPERIENCE:

Post-doctoral Researcher, Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA; 07/2011-present

Graduate Research Assistant/Associate

         Chemical Engineering, Arizona State University, AZ;                    08/2007- 05/2011   

         Chemical, Biological Engineering, Montana State University, MT;  08/2005- 08/2007

         Chemical Engineering, Washington State University, WA;            08/2004- 08/2005

Teaching (Lecturer), Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh; 02/2003- 07/2004

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Barua, S.; Ramos, J.; Potta, T.; Taylor, D.; Huang, H.C.; Montanez, G.; Rege, K., Review on Discovery of Cationic Polymers for Non-viral Gene Delivery. Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening, 2011, 14(10), 908-24

Barua, S.; Rege, K., The influence of Mediators of Intracellular Trafficking on Transgene Expression Efficacy of Polymer-plasmid DNA Complexes. Biomaterials, 2010, 31 (22), 5894-5902

Barua, S.; Joshi, A.; Banerjee, A.; Matthews, D.; Sharfstein, S. T.; Cramer, S. M.; Kane, R. S.; Rege, K., Parallel Synthesis and Screening of Polymers for Nonviral Gene Delivery. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2009, 6 (1), 86-97

Barua, S.; Rege, K., Cancer-Cell-Phenotype-Dependent Differential Intracellular Trafficking of Unconjugated Quantum Dots. Small, 2009, 5 (3), 370-376

MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION

Barua, S.; Voelkel-Johnson, C.; Von Hoff, D.D.; Han, H.; Rege, K., Inhibition of Aurora Kinases Enhances Transgene Expression and Cancer Cell Apoptosis following delivery of Polymer-Plasmid DNA Complexes. In preparation, 2012

Barua, S.; Yoo, J.W.; Mitragotri, S., Endocytosis of Nano- and Microparticles in Breast Cancer Cells. In preparation, 2012

AWARDS/ HONORS:

3^rdplace, poster competition, National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Symposium, Arizona State University, 2011

Outstanding Research Assistant Award, Chemical Engineering, Arizona State University, 2009

Travel Grant Awards, Arizona State University, 2009 and 2010

Participant, 57^th Lindau meeting with 18 honorable Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, 2007

2^ndplace, poster competition of the Intermountain Systems Biology Symposium, 2007

INRA (Inland Northwest Research Alliance) fellowship, Montana State University, 2005-2007

2^ndplace poster competition, William R. Wiley Exposition at Washington State University, 2005

Dean List Awards, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), 1999-2002

Scholarship, Bangladesh Scholarship Council and the Nippon Foundation, Japan, 1998 and 2000