Profile
The theme of our research is to develop nano-immunotherapeutic platforms to reprogram the immune responses against cancer. We formulate nano-scale artificial antigen-presenting cells capable of displaying tumor-specific peptide-MHC and co-stimulatory molecules for expanding antigen-specific T-cells in tumor situations. Additionally, we also formulate nano-delivery platforms capable of delivering tumor-antigens and immunostimulatory molecules to professional APCs to induce cognate T-cell mediated immune responses. We also explore the strategies for reprograming the antigen presentation ability of tumor cells. Additionally, we formulate peptide-MHC-based tetramer (mouse-MHC-I) to identify antigen-specific T-cells for dissecting the mechanism of action of each therapeutic strategy.
Current Focus Areas
Nanoscale artificial antigen presenting cells, Cancer immunotherapy, Nanotechnology.
Selected Publications
Singha, S.*; Shao, K.*; Yang, Y.; Clemente-Casares, X.; Sole, P.; Clemente, A.; Blanco, J.; Dai, Q.; Song, F.; Liu, S. W.; Yamanouchi, J.; Umeshappa, C. S.; Nanjundappa, R. H.; Detampel, P.; Amrein, M.; Fandos, C.; Tanguay, R.; Newbigging, S.; Serra, P.; Khadra, A.; Chan, W. C. W.; Santamaria, P., Peptide-MHC-based nanomedicines for autoimmunity function as T-cell receptor microclustering devices. Nature Nanotechnology 2017, 12 (7), 701-710
Singha, S.*; Shao, K.*; Ellestad, K. K.; Yang, Y.; Santamaria, P., Nanoparticles for Immune Stimulation Against Infection, Cancer, and Autoimmunity. ACS Nano 2018, 12 (11), 10621-10635.
Shao, K.*; Singha, S.*; Clemente-Casares, X.; Tsai, S.; Yang, Y.; Santamaria, P., Nanoparticle-based immunotherapy for cancer. ACS Nano 2015, 9 (1), 16-30.
Clemente-Casares, X.; Blanco, J.*; Ambalavanan, P*.; Yamanouchi, J.*; Singha, S.*; Fandos, C.; Tsai, S.; Wang, J.; Garabatos, N.; Izquierdo, C.; Agrawal, S.; Keough, M. B.; Yong, V. W.; James, E.; Moore, A.; Yang, Y.; Stratmann, T.; Serra, P.; Santamaria, P., Expanding antigen-specific regulatory networks to treat autoimmunity. Nature 2016, 530 (7591), 434-40.
Umeshappa, C. S.; Singha, S.; Blanco, J.; Shao, K.; Nanjundappa, R. H.; Yamanouchi, J.; Pares, A.; Serra, P.; Yang, Y.; Santamaria, P., Suppression of a broad spectrum of liver autoimmune pathologies by single peptide-MHC-based nanomedicines. Nature Communications 2019, 10 (1), 2150.