Critical work targeting treatments for an aggressive and deadly type of cancer has earned a major award for Assistant Professor Hua Wang of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Illinois Grainger Engineering.
After visiting with Wang on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus and learning about his efforts to engineer vaccines fighting back against glioblastoma — a form of brain cancer with a five-year survival rate of only 5.9 percent, per the National Brain Tumor Society — The Sontag Foundation was impressed. It soon offered Wang its Distinguished Scientist Award, which includes $750,000 to back his groundbreaking research efforts.
What Wang hopes to achieve is the development of a new-generation vaccine using exosomes, which are small, spherical-shaped extracellular vesicles naturally produced by cells. Efforts will use an exosome labeling and targeting technology pioneered in his lab to combine glioblastoma exosomes with TLR3/7/8/9 agonists in a seamless manner. The goal is to amplify the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response and achieve superior efficacy in glioblastoma treatment.
When he receiving a phone call from Sontag confirming his award, Wang was thrilled. He said the increasing recognition for research efforts was a morale boost for his team.
“We have been actively pursuing the clinical translation of our cancer vaccine systems, and this Sontag Distinguished Scientist Award will bring us closer to our goal,” Wang said. “I also look forward to getting connected with and contributing to the Sontag network, with a shared goal of developing and translating effective therapies against brain cancer.”
Wang has ambitious goals for his research, including a vision for potential translation of the tumor exosome vaccine and other cancer vaccine platforms developed in his laboratory. Steering towards this goal, he has built an interdisciplinary team of material scientists, immunologists, pathologists and neurosurgeons as work continues.
"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Wang as a Distinguished Scientist Award recipient,” said Hilary Keeley, executive director of The Sontag Foundation, in a statement. “His innovative research brings new skills and perspectives to our DSA community, and we are excited to support his work. We look forward to seeing how his project unfolds and contributes to advancing brain cancer research."
Sontag seeks to financially back early career scientists who demonstrate exceptional promise as they fight against brain cancer. The award has fostered a series of groundbreaking discoveries since it first began and has empowered researchers to not only improve treatments but also improve outcomes for cancer patients.
More information about The Sontag Foundation can be found by visiting its website.
Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Hua Wang is an Illinois Grainger Engineering assistant professor of materials science and engineering and is a faculty affiliate of the Department of Bioengineering, Beckman Institute, Materials Research Laboratory, Cancer Center at Illinois, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and Carle Illinois College of Medicine.