Ching-An Peng

Biography

Dr. Peng started his academic career as an assistant professor at the University of Southern California in Chemical Engineering Department and later on promoted to associate professor with tenure. He then joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the National Taiwan University with the rank of full professor. In 2008, he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Michigan Technological University as the first holder of the James and Lorna Mack Endowed Chair in Bioengineering. Over the course of his academic career, Dr. Peng has been involved with research in drug/ gene delivery using viral & nonviral vectors as well as ultrasonic device, developing phagocytosis-resistant perfluorocarbon-based oxygen carriers using PEGylated fluorosurfactant and CD47 ligand, photothermolysis of cancer cells using nanomaterials, and detection of antiviral agents using nanobiosensors. A few of Dr. Peng’s studies are summarized below.

Drug/Gene Delivery

Polymeric drug/gene nanocarriers for gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy are designed and synthesized to specifically target cancer cells and control the release of cytotoxic drugs inside the cancer cells for augmenting the effectiveness of anticancer treatment. Several enzyme/prodrug pairs and anticancer drugs have been coupled with polymeric micellar nanoparticles to deliver into cancer cells and showed anticancer activity. To achieve the goal of long blood circulation of drug/gene carriers, CD47- streptavidin fusion protein expressed in bacteria and purified by affinity chromatography is conjugated on biotinylated nanocarriers to explore its anti-phagocytic capability. Results show CD47-tagged nanoparticles can prevent phagocytosis by macrophage to a large extend. For the enhancement of gene delivery efficiency using either viral or nonviral methods, potential of ultrasonic standing wave fields has been demonstrated. Under acoustic exposure, suspended cells move to the pressure nodal planes first and form cell clusters. Then, viruses or DNA complexes circulated between nodal planes use the pre-formed cell clusters as the nucleating sites to attach on. As a result, this system enhances gene delivery efficiency.

Nano/Bio Technology

Developing fast and efficient screening technology has its merits of identifying potential drugs against viral diseases that still lack of effective prevention or treatment. Quantum dot, an emerging probe for biological imaging and medical diagnostics, is employed to form complexes with virus and used as fluorescent imaging probes for exploring potential antiviral therapeutics. Ultrasound contrast perfluorocarbon microbubble stabilized with PEG-based fluorosurfactant has been incorporated with nanomaterials to enhance the detecting capability. Perfluorocarbon microbubble can be further used to carry therapeutic drugs or genes to make it as a theranostic agent. Carbon nanotube and gold nanorod functionalized with tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies have been utilized along with near-infrared laser to selectively induce photothermolysis of specific malignant cells from a mixed cell population.