Our paper with the Duncan Lab @greggaduncan.bsky.social "PEGylation strategies for enhanced nanoparticle delivery to tumor-associated immune cells" is up! aiche.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... Thanks to the NCI-UMD Partnership which made it possible. @univofmaryland.bsky.social
Thanks for the nice writeup about our work by NCI Frederick!
ncifrederick.cancer.gov/about/thepos....
And it was featured in a commentary article by Dr. Olivier De Wever.
aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...
Cover art for May issue of Cancer Research featuring immunofluorescence of our lab's "MatriSphere" 3D tumor model of extracellular matrix-tumor cell interactions.
Congratulations to all authors and Dr. Buckenmeyer for our paper in Cancer Research @aacrjournals.bsky.social, "A 3D Self-Assembly Platform Integrating Decellularized Matrix Recapitulates In Vivo Tumor Phenotypes and Heterogeneity." His image made Cover Art! aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...
The Cancer Biomaterials Engineering Section at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is hiring a Postdoctoral Fellow to lead projects in developing implantable biomaterial scaffolds for tissue repair and cancer immunotherapy delivery. The Lab is headed by Dr. Matthew Wolf and is located at NCI Frederick, MD. It is a multidisciplinary combination of biomaterials science, cancer immunology, and tissue engineering. The Lab studies immune modulatory scaffolds as a local delivery system for cancer immunotherapy after surgery and as 3D scaffolds for building immune competent tumor models in vitro. Naturally derived materials composed of decellularized extracellular matrix are of particular interest. Our long-term mission is to design biomaterial scaffold-based strategies that modulate and enhance antigen specific anti-tumor immune responses after surgical tumor resection. Interested candidates should email a brief cover letter, CV, 2 first-author publications, and contact information for 3 references to matthew.wolf@nih.gov. The cover letter should include research experience, career goals, interest and expectations, and preferred start date. Positions are available in Fall 2025. Candidates with experience & interest in the following areas are encouraged to apply: • Animal models: transplantable tumors and soft tissue surgery • 3D in vitro models such as tumor organoids or spheroids • Immunology / cancer immunology • Biomaterial scaffold design and characterization • Spectral flow cytometry • Immunofluorescence/IHC tissue staining • Single-cell sequencing and analysis • Tissue engineering Qualifications: Postdoc applicants are expected to hold an advanced degree (M.D., Ph.D) in Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Immunology, Chemistry, Biology, Materials Science, or related fields. Those with expected graduation dates in upcoming semesters may also apply. Posting date July 3, 2025, and applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
I'm pleased to announce that my lab will have a Postdoc opening this Fall in Biomaterials and Immune Engineering, with projects in Cancer Immunotherapy, Surgery, and 3D in vitro models. The lab is located at NCI Frederick, MD and we'll interview on a rolling basis starting as early as August.
Second nostalgia Baltimore meal during #BMES2024, with the lab
I've had one nostalgia meal in Canton and will likely have another before the week is done.
And checkout our collaborators in the Duncan lab via the NCI-UMD partnership program and former PhD Dr. Devorah Cahn while you're at it:
And 2 posters on 3D modeling the tumor stroma:
We have 3 talks on Thursday and Friday on #immunoengineering
Happy to be back in Baltimore for #BMES2024! The lab has a really good turnout, with talks by Sanjay, Iris, and myself and posters from Mike and Ireolu. Representing BME in the @theNCI intramural research program. Our lineup:
Big thanks to @AliceTomei79 for inviting me to visit U of Miami @umiamiengineer and @SylvesterCancer. The tight connection between immunology and engineering they've fostered is really impressive. (& the new cancer research building). #immunoengineering #cancerimmunotherapy
Back from a great visit at Case Western @CWRUBME. I loved the #immunoengineering interest from all the faculty and students I had the pleasure to meet.
Thanks to @Abhi_Immuneng for being a fantastic host and for the invitation to present our work!
Thanks to @gakaur and @HowardU Chemistry for inviting me to discuss #biomaterials in #CancerImmunotherapy at their department seminar series. They were great hosts and it was a pleasure chatting with the students about #immunoengineering.
TERMIS WC: Dr. Mike Buckenmeyer is presenting our self-assembling 3D MatriSpheres platform to build ECM rich stroma in vitro. Organoid like complexity, ease of a spheroid platform to mimic the TME. Join the “3D Tumor Models” rapid fire at 3:15. #TERMIS2024 @TERMIS @NCIResearchCtr
Awesome talk by Sanjay Pal at the TERMIS world congress in Seattle!
He presented his work developing a ECM scaffold assisted therapeutic cancer vaccine. Come chat with him about it if you are around #TERMIS2024 @TERMIS
We hope this will play a role in synthetic niche engineering and drug discovery. Thanks for reading! (reposted due to not having enough tea)
This means we can decouple ECM effects from tumors using in vitro 3D models. Traditional 3D spheroids are a no-ECM condition compared to MatriSpheres with a tissue-specific ECM stroma. You can’t do this with other models that require ECM to form the 3D structure
A really important discovery was that MatriSpheres matched the transcriptome of in vivo tumors via scRNAseq. Scissor analysis showed high similarity to the SIS MatriSpheres, with a smaller subset showing similarity to cells alone. Tumors are heterogeneous after all.
An unexpected finding was that this assembly is completely cell-dependent. These are not gels! (like when you embed cells in Matrigel for organoids). Rather it’s localized cell mediated ECM assembly. Rheologically, nothing happens without cells.
We discovered that we can co-assemble cancer cells and ECM into 3D structures in high-throughput methods that are as easy as spheroids! We process into ECM hydrogel precursors + cancer cells in the right conditions and MatriSpheres emerge with collagen rich stroma
ECM is complex to say the least and we wanted a flexible method to capture that complexity or study individual ECM molecules. Decellularized intestine (SIS) maintains tissue specific ECM composition (via proteomics) and is more similar to tumor ECM than other biomaterials
We created a new in vitro model: self-assembling 3D “MatriSpheres” from decellularized matrix (ECM) to mimic colorectal tumor microenvironments. This is exciting because (1) its a novel method to make ECM dense niches (2) MatriSpheres matched in vivo tumors via scRNAseq
Our pre-print “Engineering Tumor Stroma Morphogenesis Using Dynamic Cell-Matrix Spheroid Assembly” is now online! Thanks to authors Michael Buckenmeyer & Elizabeth Brooks and @NCIResearchCtr for support. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03....
The paint is dry and it looks really good! Iris is a talented artist-scientist.
Eclipse Activity: painting the inside of an obsolete live-cell imaging box to block out light for our more sensitive microscopy. It seemed like the right time for such a project.
Thanks to to @Sanjay_Pal7 for the excellent job and the NCI IRP @NCIResearchCtr for support.
Also, I’m at the the @grcimmunoeng conference this week if you’d like to chat and see a poster.
It’s official! Our first paper “Extracellular Matrix Scaffold-Assisted Tumor Vaccines Induce Tumor Regression and Long-Term Immune Memory” was published in #AdvancedMaterials online. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.2023098...
A big thank you to @GarciaLabGT on behalf of the NCI CCR @NCIResearchCtr for an excellent talk at NCI Frederick yesterday for the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series!