Charles Park, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow, Harvard University
Date: Friday, Jan. 30
Time: 9–9:50 a.m.
Location: SCOB 228
Faculty host: Xiaojun Tian
Abstract
With recent advances in omics technologies and spatial tissue analysis, the use of cells as therapeutic platforms has become increasingly realistic. Unlike conventional therapeutics and synthetic carriers, cells possess unique properties — including microscale size and active in vivo trafficking behaviors — that can be engineered for precise drug delivery and immune modulation. This seminar will highlight engineering strategies that leverage these cellular features using two distinct cell types: red blood cells and myeloid cells.
As the most abundant cell type in the bloodstream, red blood cells can serve as drug carriers through surface loading of therapeutics using metal-phenolic networks. Owing to their microscale dimensions, red blood cells are subject to high shear stress during passage through capillary beds, enabling tissue-specific cargo release, such as in the lungs and brain, thereby facilitating targeted delivery for pulmonary or neurological diseases.
In contrast, myeloid cells actively migrate in response to biological cues, including chemokines and integrins, allowing them to access tissues that are otherwise difficult to reach — such as solid tumors where high interstitial pressure limits penetration of conventional therapeutics. Following targeted migration, these engineered cells can induce context-dependent immune modulation tailored to disease-specific microenvironments. Together, these cellular engineering strategies establish a foundation for next-generation precision immunotherapies and offer new treatment avenues for diseases that remain poorly addressed by existing approaches.
Biosketch
Park is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, specializing in immunoengineering. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Sogang University in South Korea and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. During his doctoral training, Park focused on developing therapeutic strategies for addressing immune-related diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases using biomaterials-based nanoparticle systems. As a postdoctoral fellow, he expanded his expertise to cell-based engineering approaches, utilizing macrophages as a cellular therapeutic platform and developing ‘RBC hitchhiking’ strategies for organ-specific drug delivery. His work bridges biomaterials and cellular engineering, with extensive experience translating research into preclinical applications using animal models. Driven by recent advances in omics and spatial biology, Park’s research aims to pioneer the development of next-generation tools for precise immune modulation in disease therapy.
