This is a past event.

Biomedical Engineering Research Seminar

Dr. Daniel Gallego-Perez

Biomedical Engineering, General Surgery
The Ohio State University

Abstract

Cell and tissue reprogramming have the potential to enable the development of highly promising cell therapies for a wide variety of conditions. Current approaches to cell reprogramming, however, face major practical and translational hurdles, including heavy reliance on viral vectors, and a highly stochastic nature, which often leads to inefficient and/or unpredictable reprogramming outcomes. We developed a novel nanotechnology-based approach that overcomes these barriers by enabling deterministic transfection of reprogramming factors into tissues with single-cell resolution and without the need for viral vectors. Cell and tissue nanotransfection (TNT) promote remarkably fast and efficient direct cellular reprogramming in vivo. Such platform technology could be applicable to virtually any reprogramming model, and its minimally disruptive and non-viral nature make it an ideal candidate for use in highly complex disease systems, including neurodegenerative conditions and metabolic disorders, among others. This seminar will review several examples in which cell and tissue nanotransfection were used to drive anti-tumoral responses in preclinical models of breast cancer, improve cardiometabolic health in preclinical models of diabetes and obesity, and improve nerve tissue repair and regeneration in both the peripheral and central nervous system.

Bio

Dr. Gallego-Perez is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and General Surgery at The Ohio State University (OSU). He was also recently appointed as the Edgar C. Hendrickson Chair in Biomedical Engineering, the Director of the Advanced Nanotherapeutics Center within the Gene Therapy Institute at OSU (2023), and a Faculty Fellow within the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge (ERIK) at OSU. His lab’s research is aimed at developing nanotechnology-driven platforms (e.g., devices, methods, approaches, systems) for both fundamental and translational biomedical research. A major portion of his research has been devoted to using nanotechnology to induce controlled lineage conversions, in vivo, as a potential therapeutic approach for different conditions. Such efforts were highlighted in 2019 the NIH Director’s Blog. Dr. Gallego-Perez is currently supervising a number of projects in which this approach is being tested within the context of diabetes, peripheral nerve injury, chronic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and cancer. In addition to high impact publications, this line of research has yielded multiple intellectual property filings and awarded patents, several of which have already been licensed to industry. Dr. Gallego-Perez is the lead inventor of the Tissue Nano-Transfection (TNT) technology, for which he was awarded the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award to work on developing TNT-driven therapies for ischemic stroke and peripheral nerve injury. Dr. Gallego-Perez was also awarded pilot funding through NIDDK’s Catalyst Award program to work on developing TNT-driven therapies for diabetes and metabolic disorders. In addition to these recognitions, he was also awarded the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator Award, the Distinguished Alumni Award from both his undergraduate alma mater and OSU’s College of Engineering, and multiple other research and teaching distinctions from OSU, including the Institute for Materials Research Innovation Award, the Lumley Interdisciplinary Research Award, and the Lumley Research Award, and the Harrison Faculty Award for Excellence in Engineering Education.