Ultrasmall Nanocarriers

for Disease-Specific Targeting 

The ideal anticancer nanocarrier should maximize therapeutic efficacy while minimizing systemic toxicity. However, conventional nanocarriers, such as liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles, often suffer from undesired accumulation in healthy tissues due to their relatively large size, limiting their clinical utility.

Our lab has developed renal-clearable ultrasmall nanocarriers that can precisely target tumor tissues while avoiding off-target accumulation in normal organs. By fine-tuning the structure of nanocarriers, we overcame the limitations of traditional delivery systems and achieved exceptionally high tumor-targeting efficiency.

We are now pursuing the development of ultrasmall nanocarriers that enable highly precise, disease-specific delivery of therapeutics across a broader range of pathological conditions. 

Image-guided phototherapy: 

phototheranostic nanoplatforms

Image-guided phototherapy is a therapeutic strategy that combines optical imaging with light-activated therapy to achieve precise, spatiotemporal control over drug activation and tumor ablation. By visualizing tumors in real time, this approach enables focused light delivery to tumor tissues that are difficult to resect or located near critical organs.

Our lab has developed photoactivatable theranostic nanoplatforms that integrate near-infrared fluorescence imaging and phototherapy into a single nanocarrier, enabling deep tumor penetration and fluorescence image-guided phototherapy of rectal cancer.

We are now advancing phototheranostic systems that respond to diverse biological stimuli and allow deeper light penetration. Our goal is establishing minimally invasive, image-guided therapies as a new standard for treating solid tumors.

Nano-bio interactions

When nanomedicines enter the body, they undergo complex biological processing, including absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME).

We investigate how the physicochemical properties of nanomedicines, such as size, shape, surface charge, hydrophobicity and 3D structure, influence their interactions with biological systems during each ADME phase. 

In particular, we are interested in how these behaviors change in disease conditions, such as inflammation, fibrosis, or disrupted vasculature.

Our research seeks to unravel these mechanisms and leverage them to design precision nanomedicine with enhanced therapeutic efficacy and reduced toxicity.

Developing Pharmaceutical Formulations: 

We are developing advanced pharmaceutical formulation technologies for both small molecule drugs and macromolecular biologics. 

• Enhancing gastrointestinal absorption of poorly water-soluble drugs: Many drug candidates experience low oral bioavailability due to inadequate aqueous solubility. Our goal is to create innovative oral formulations that effectively overcome this challenge. 

• Enhancing gastrointestinal absorption of peptides/proteins:  Biologics often face degradation in the GI tract and exhibit poor epithelial permeability. We investigate novel formulations and absorption enhancers that facilitate the oral delivery of peptide and protein-based therapies.