Novel Protein Cages for Biotherapeutic Delivery

Currently, drug delivery systems used in clinical applications are limited to liposome and polymer-based systems. Although these methods have been shown to be sufficient for most applications, they have limited targeting of specific areas in the body and have a low effectiveness for efficient drug administration. To compensate, higher and multiple dosages are required, drastically increasing costs of production and administration. Many drug delivery technologies that are being developed can also cause immune responses, causing adverse effects and/or a decrease of retainment of the drug in the body. These issues can lead to disparities and complications in treatments for diseases such as cancer. Our product uses novel protein cages, to provide an improved protein drug delivery platform. This drug delivery strategy has the potential to be safer, more effective, and more modular for specific disease targeting. The intern for the purpose of this Mitacs proposal and Lab2Market program will participate in the development of the technology and focus most of their efforts towards refining the technology and its industrial use by building a business plan and interacting with end users in the drug delivery industry sector.

Faculty Supervisor:

Trushar Patel;Hans-Joachim Wieden

Student:

Partner:

North Forge

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education; Management of companies and enterprises; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Lethbridge; University of Manitoba

Program: