Tong, Sheng

Owned by UKY CCS RCD
Jun 09, 2024
2 min read


Research overview

The research in our laboratory is focused on the development of nanotechnologies for immunoengineering and gene editing for disease treatment. Magnetic nanomaterials, owing to the unique quantum mechanical effects at the nanometer scale, can be used to control the biological systems via force or heat. These intriguing properties have been extensively explored for biomedical applications such as magnetogenetics, cancer thermal therapy, and magnetic drug targeting. Our research aims to investigate how these nanomaterials interact with biomolecules, viral vectors, and various mammalian cells and utilize the knowledge gained from these studies to formulate innovative therapies for cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and genetic diseases. In particular, we will use the resources at the computing center to perform numerical simulations to gain a better understanding of nanoparticle-mediated transport phenomena and magnetic nanoparticle heating. Through combined numerical analysis and experimental study, we will optimize the properties of nanomaterials and improve the therapeutic strategy.


Projects

  1. Development of high-heating magnetic nanoparticles. Magnetic nanoparticles can generate heat when exposed to an alternating magnetic field, a phenomenon named magnetic nanoparticle heating. Magnetic nanoparticle heating holds great promises in magnetogenetics, cancer thermal therapy and organ preservation. disease treatment. However, the mechanisms underlying magnetic heating are not well understood. We will elucidate the mechanisms of magnetic heating by combining mathematic modeling and experimental analysis. We will solve a stochastic differential equation of magnetic relaxation and validate model assumptions by comparing simulated heating efficiency with experimental results. The equation will be solved by finite difference method coded in MatLab.
  2. Development of purification for enveloped viral vectors. Enveloped viral vectors are extensively used in gene delivery and gene editing applications. Viral vectors are usually purified and concentrated through ultracentrifugation. The centrifugation method is time consuming and damages the integrity of the viral membrane. The aim of our study is to design a magnetic separation method that can efficiently purify the viral vectors from the crude product. The magnetic separation will be carried out with a microfluidic device. We will simulate the flow under a magnetic field using the finite element method in Comsol.
  3. Analysis of gene editing patterns. Our lab is developing CRISPR/Cas9-based in vivo gene editing for disease treatment. We will examine the genomic loci to analyze cas9-induced mutation pattern.


Personnel

Sheng Tong, PI 

Xiaoyue Yang Postdoc 


Computational methods

  1. Finite difference
  2. Finite element
  3. Sequence alignment


Software

Matlab, Comsol, Blast


Grants


Publications

Center for Computational Sciences