PI: Dr. Oliver Press
Location: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Website: http://research.fhcrc.org/press/en.html

The Press lab, located at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, investigates novel treatments for hematologic malignancies including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma.   A variety of therapeutic agents are currently being studied, including monoclonal antibodies, radioimmunoconjugates, immunotoxins, chemotherapeutic agents, and genetically modified cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

The Press lab is seeking an IPD-WRF Independent fellow as part of a collaboration with the groups of Neil King and David Baker at the IPD.  The collaboration aims to develop a new class of protein-based vehicles for targeted drug delivery by combining the extensive expertise of the Press group in the preclinical and clinical evaluation of novel therapies with the IPD’s ability to design novel self-assembling protein nanomaterials with atomic-level accuracy.  Given the pressing need for more sophisticated delivery technologies and the remarkable functions accessible to self-assembling proteins, designed protein nanomaterials represent a potentially powerful alternative to the nanomaterials traditionally used in delivery systems, such as polymeric nanoparticles and liposomes.

Working in the Press lab in collaboration with scientists at the IPD, the Independent Fellow will establish a design cycle in which evaluation of the materials in vitro and in vivo will drive iterative optimization of the ability of the nanoparticles to encapsulate drugs and deliver them selectively to tumor tissue.  The cutting-edge computational design expertise at the IPD will allow precise control over drug packaging, biodistribution and immune evasion, cell type targeting and uptake, and drug release.