(483g) Programming Immunity with Smart Materials (Invited Speaker)

Interventions that engage the power and specificity of the immune system have enormous potential to improve human health, yet the efficacy, safety, and utility of many promising immunomodulatory agents is limited by critical drug delivery barriers. This talk will describe current research in my laboratory focused on engineering nanomaterials for intracellular delivery of immunomodulatory proteins, nucleic acids, and small molecules. Specifically, I will discuss our recent efforts in developing environmentally-responsive “smart” materials that open access cytosolic immune surveillance pathways and how we are leveraging these platforms to enhance responses in cancer immunotherapy and augment the efficacy of subunit vaccines against respiratory viral pathogens.