Dr. Jinming Gao holds an Elaine Dewey Sammons Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research, in Honor of Eugene P. Frenkel, M.D., at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Gao received his B.S. in chemistry from Peking University, a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from Harvard University, and he completed postdoctoral training in biomedical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Gao’s lab studies the science of nanotechnology and cancer. Researchers in the Gao Lab designed proton transistor nanoparticles that digitize tumor acidotic signals from dysregulated cancer cell metabolism. Pegsitacianine, one such nanosensor, recently received Breakthrough Therapy Designation in cytoreductive surgery of peritoneal metastasis. Phase 2 clinical trials show Pegsitacianine identified unresected residual diseases in over 50% of patients after routine cancer surgery. Dr. Gao’s lab also discovered synthetic polymers (PC7A, PSC7A) for non-canonical activation of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway with improved tumor and cell selectivity and antitumor immunity over small molecule agonists. A nanoparticle STING agonist will enter first-in-human trial in 2023.
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