Elizabeth Wayne
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering
Address:
Doherty Hall 3122
Biomedical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Most modern drug formulations are encapsulated within nanoparticles, biomaterials, or protein conjugations. Macrophages are among the first cells to interact with these therapeutic materials making them prime candidates for observation. Until recently, it was largely believed that this was an obstacle, that macrophages phagocytose these therapies and inhibit the overall efficacy. However, newly available information, suggests that macrophages can act as slow release reservoirs for nucleic acids in a polarization dependent manner. The precise manner in which macrophages respond to these signals is important to decipher because they yield insight into the processing of nano-formulated drugs which affect disease progression. The Wayne lab researches new strategies for engineering macrophages to control drug delivery and for developing computational models to predict tumor-therapeutic-macrophage interactions in vivo.
Highlighted Publications
Vinod, N.; Hwang, D.; Azam, S. H.; Swearingen, A. E. D. V.; Wayne, EC.; Fussell, S. C.; Sokolsky-Papkov, M.; Pecot, C. V.; Kabanov, A. V. High-Capacity Poly(2-Oxazoline) Formulation of TLR 7/8 Agonist Extends Survival in a Chemo-Insensitive, Metastatic Model of Lung Adenocarcinoma. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (25).
Wayne EC; Long, C.; Haney, M. J.; Batrakova, E. V.; Leisner, T. M.; Parise, L. V.; Kabanov, A. V. Targeted Delivery of SiRNA Lipoplexes to Cancer Cells Using Macrophage Transient Horizontal Gene Transfer. Advanced Science 2019, 6 (21), 1900582.
Wayne, EC, Chandrasekaran, S, Mitchell, MJ, Chan MF, Lee, RE, Schaffer, CB, & King, MR (2016). TRAIL-coated leukocytes that prevent the bloodborne metastasis of prostate cancer. Journal of Controlled Release. Journal of Controlled Release, 223, 215–223.
Mitchell MJ, Wayne EC, Rana K, Schaffer CB, King MR. (2014) TRAIL-Coated Leukocytes that Kill Cancer Cells in the Circulation. PNAS 111(3) 930–935.
Highlighted Media
"The Best Delivery Vehicle has already been made: your immune cells.” Wayne EC TED Conference, Vancouver, Canada. April 24, 2017. Impact: Over 1.4 million views
"The Future of Cancer Treatment.” Flatiron Health and American Cancer Society Junior Board. April 30, 2018, New York, NY.
"Immunotherapy: Supporting the Body's Fight Against Cancer.” Merad M., Wayne EC, LaPook J.Aspen Ideas Health. June 2019 Health, Aspen, CO.