Seoul National University · Engineering
Professor Junsang Doh's research lab specializes in developing advanced biomaterials and microengineered platforms to study and enhance T cell function in complex biological environments. The lab focuses on understanding how physical cues—such as nanotopography, extracellular matrix architecture, and immunological synapse structure—influence T cell migration, activation, and anti-tumor responses. By integrating microfabrication, photochemistry, and 3D tissue models, the lab creates physiologically relevant in vitro systems to evaluate cancer immunotherapies, including adoptive T cell therapy and combination strategies with photothermal therapy. Their work aims to bridge the gap between in vitro assays and clinical outcomes by mimicking the tumor microenvironment and vascular barriers that govern T cell efficacy.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
T cells are activated by recognition of foreign peptides displayed on the surface of antigen presenting cells (APCs), an event that triggers assembly of a complex microscale structure at the T cell-APC interface known as the immunological synapse (IS). It remains unresolved whether the unique physical structure of the synapse itself impacts the functional response of T cells, independent of the quantity and quality of ligands encountered by the T cell. As a first step toward addressing this ques
A novel photoresist (PR) that can be processed under mild aqueous conditions was synthesized and used to create photogenerated polyelectrolyte bilayers. Thin films of the PR cast on polycation-coated substrates were exposed to UV irradiation to generate carboxylate groups in the photoresist. The bulk of the UV-exposed PR film was dissolved by rinsing with pH 7.4 phosphate-buffered saline, but a polyelectrolyte bilayer formed in situ at the PR/polycation interface on exposure remained bound to th
Adoptive cell transfer against solid tumors faces challenges to overcome tumor microenvironment (TME), which plays as a physical barrier and provides immuno-suppressive conditions. Classical cytotoxicity assays are widely used to measure killing ability of the engineered cytotoxic lymphocytes as therapeutics, but the results cannot represent the performance in clinical application due to the absence of the TME. This paper describes a 3D cytotoxicity assay using an injection molded plastic array
T cells navigate a wide variety of tissues and organs for immune surveillance and effector functions. Although nanoscale topographical structures of extracellular matrices and stromal/endothelial cell surfaces in local tissues may guide the migration of T cells, there has been little opportunity to study how nanoscale topographical features affect T cell migration. In this study, we systematically investigated mechanisms of nanotopography-guided migration of T cells using nanoscale ridge/groove
Cancer immunotherapies based on the ability of T cells to recognize and kill tumor cells (TCs), including immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, have been greatly successful recently, but they are applicable for only a fraction of patients. One of the main challenges in cancer immunotherapy is the improvement of T cell infiltration into solid tumor tissues, as T cells can exert cytotoxicity against TCs only when they are in contact with TCs.
Cancer immunotherapy is a promising therapy to treat cancer patients with minimal toxicity, but only a small fraction of patients responded to it as a monotherapy. In this study, a strategy to boost therapeutic efficacy by combining an immunotherapy based on ex vivo expanded tumor-reactive T cells is devised, or adoptive cell therapy (ACT), with photothermal therapy (PTT). Smart gold nanoparticles (sAuNPs), which aggregates to form gold nanoclusters in the cells, are loaded into T cells, and the
Structure changes mediated by anisotropic volume changes of stimuli-responsive hydrogels are useful for many research fields, yet relatively simple structured objects are mostly used due to limitation in fabrication methods. To fabricate complex 3 dimensional (3D) structures that undergo structure changes in response to external stimuli, jammed microgel-based inks containing precursors of stimuli-responsive hydrogels are developed for extrusion-based 3D printing. Specifically, the jammed microge
Lipid-coated microbubbles are widely used as an ultrasound contrast agent, as well as drug delivery carriers. However, the two main limitations in ultrasound diagnosis and drug delivery using microbubbles are the short half-life in the blood system, and the difficulty of surface modification of microbubbles for active targeting. The exosome, a type of extracellular vesicle, has a preferentially targeting ability for its original cell. In this study, exosome-fused microbubbles (Exo-MBs) were deve
Functional analysis of lymphocytes is important for development of vaccines and diagnosis/treatment of various immune-related diseases. In this review, we describe multifunctional microwell arrays that enable functional analysis of lymphocytes at the single cell level. We first discuss key parameters for microwell array design. Then, we describe how different types of multifunctional microwell arrays were developed for various applications, including live cell imaging of lymphocyte activation, p
Cytotoxicity exerted by cytotoxic lymphocytes against cancer cells is an essential cellular function for successful cancer immunotherapy. Standard cytotoxicity assays mostly provide population level information, whereas live cell imaging-based cytotoxicity assays can assess single cell level heterogeneity. However, long term tracking of individual cytotoxic lymphocyte-hematological cancer cell interactions is technically challenging because both cells can float around and form multi-cellular agg
T cells navigate complex microenvironments to initiate and modulate antigen-specific immune responses. While recent intravital microscopy study revealed that migration of T cells were guided by various tissue microstructures containing unique nanoscale topographical structures, the effects of complex nanotopographical structures on the migration of T cells have not been systematically studied. In this study, we fabricated surfaces containing nanoscale zigzag structures with various side lengths
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