Immunotherapy utilizes the patient's own immune system to fight against diseases. However, some limitations still need to be addressed, such as low response rate and immune-related adverse events (irAEs) caused by off-targeting.
In the past several years, Chao Wang has focused on the research of biomaterial-based local/targeted and combination strategies for enhanced cancer immunotherapy, which are promising to be used in clinical practice. A variety of novel biomaterials and strategies have been reported by his group to targeted therapeutics for immunotherapy, including microneedle patch, hydrogel, RBC, and platelets.
In the field of biomaterials and biomedical engineering, Chao Wang has developed a variety of biomaterials to explore the new strategies for cancer immunotherapy, for improving the specificity of cancer treatment, overcoming resistance, and inhibiting metastasis.
As early as his Ph.D. days, Chao Wang for the first time found that tumor photothermal therapy based on nanomaterials combined with immune checkpoint blocking therapy could produce a synergistic effect, effectively inhibiting the growth and metastasis of residual tumor cells in the body. The related work has led to the follow-up research in this direction by many teams worldwide.
During the postdoctoral period, Chao Wang developed an immunotherapy patch for local deliver immune checkpoint antibodies for skin cancer treatment with Prof. Zhen Gu. Such a device enhanced the anti-tumor efficacy and potentially minimized the side effects related to immunotherapy. Due to the excellent biocompatibility and ease of manufacturing, the technology is now being translated to clinical trials.
Since being a PI in 2018, Chao Wang has also developed a variety of cell-derived novel biomaterials to improve the objective response rate and reduce immune-related adverse events of cancer immunotherapy. In addition, Dr. Wang has also developed biomaterial-based local/targeted and combination strategies for enhanced cancer immunotherapy, which are promising for clinical practices.
Chao Wang has been chosen for the 2018-2020 "Highly Cited Researchers" list produced by Clarivate Analytics, CASNN Rising Star Award (2019), Biomaterials Future Scientist Award (2017), etc.
In addition to academic achievements, Chao Wang is a co-founder of two biotech startups and is also going to build a biotech start-up in Suzhou Bio-bay based on the patents in the lab.
