{"688414":{"#nid":"688414","#data":{"type":"event","title":"BioE PhD Proposal Presentation- Alisyn Bourque","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvisors\u003C\/strong\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EM.G. Finn, Ph.D. (Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENick Housley, Ph.D., DPT, PT (Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee\u003C\/strong\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJulie Champion, Ph.D. (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnkur Singh, Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETimothy Cope, Ph.D. (Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExploring the Tumor Targeting Mechanism of Polymer \u201cSANG\u201d Nanoparticles, and Engineering SANGs for Drug Delivery to Treat Cancer\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite substantial research into cancer therapies in the last few decades including targeted nanoparticle therapies and antibody drug conjugates, drug delivery specifically to cancer remains challenging, with less than ~1% of the injected drug dose in current cancer treatments ever getting to tumors. High chemotherapy drug doses necessary to overcome this limited delivery cause debilitating off-target toxicity in healthy tissues. A therapy that can be injected systemically and primarily target tumors without significant accumulation in healthy tissues is the main goal of cancer\u0026nbsp;treatment. This work presents a novel polymer self-agglomerating nanohydrogel (SANG) that has shown significant accumulation in multiple types of solid tumors and metastases when injected systemically without any targeting ligands. SANG particles have also exhibited a unique agglomeration behavior in which above a certain concentration, the particles tend to stick to each other, forming larger aggregates. This work aims to better understand the tumor targeting capabilities and mechanism of SANGs, and exploit it by loading chemotherapeutic drugs on SANGs for application as an anti-cancer therapy. In \u003Cstrong\u003EAim 1\u003C\/strong\u003E, the vascular mechanisms leading to SANG tumor accumulation are explored, comparing malformed, tortuous tumor vasculature\u0026nbsp;to\u0026nbsp;healthy vasculature. In \u003Cstrong\u003EAim 2\u003C\/strong\u003E, chemotherapy drugs are loaded on SANGs and the anti-tumor effects of systemic administration of SANG-drugs are explored in vivo in breast and ovarian cancer models. Together, these efforts aim to advance the understanding of the tumor targeting mechanism of SANGs, and present the use of chemotherapy loaded SANGs as a novel cancer therapy for multiple types of solid tumors.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBioE PhD Proposal Presentation- \u0022Exploring the Tumor Targeting Mechanism of Polymer \u201cSANG\u201d Nanoparticles, and Engineering SANGs for Drug Delivery to Treat Cancer\u0022- Alisyn Bourque\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"\u0022Exploring the Tumor Targeting Mechanism of Polymer \u201cSANG\u201d Nanoparticles, and Engineering SANGs for Drug Delivery to Treat Cancer\u0022"}],"uid":"27917","created_gmt":"2026-02-20 14:51:36","changed_gmt":"2026-02-20 14:52:37","author":"Laura Paige","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-03-05T15:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2026-03-05T17:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-03-05T17:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-03-05 20:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-03-05 22:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-03-05 22:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"1128 IBB","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"65448","name":"Bioengineering Graduate Program"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172056","name":"go-BioE"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}