Jianqin Lu

Jianqin Lu, BPharm, PhD, researches the fundamental and applied aspects of nanotherapeutics for improved cancer and other human diseases intervention. The Lu lab strives to develop safe, efficacious, and translational nanomedicines at the interface of synthetic chemistry, drug discovery/delivery, nanotechnology, and tumor immunology. First, Lu lab is interested in unraveling the underlying mechanisms and principles on how the structural alterations of a sterol-modified phospholipid bilayer will impact the therapeutic delivery of small molecule drugs/genes (siRNA, mRNA). Second, his group has pioneered a self-assembling sphingomyelin-derived drug nanoplatform that can address the drawbacks (poor drug loading/pharmacokinetics; limited tumor delivery) associated with conventional lipid-based delivery systems. Third, his team aims to develop effective nanotechnology-enabled approaches to turn “cold” tumors into “hot” phenotype, synergizing with the immune checkpoint blockade for improved cancer immunotherapy.

His research has been published in Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Biomaterials, etc, and yielded an NIH/NIGMS MIRA (R35) and an NIH/NCI R01, PhRMA Foundation Research Starter Grant in Drug Delivery, and several pilot/seed grants from the State of Arizona's Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF)/BIO5 Institute and the NIH-sponsored Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center.

Recipient of the Norman R. and Priscilla A. Farnsworth Award at the University of Pittsburgh, the NIH/NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award (T32) in Tumor Immunology at UCLA, A. Jay Gandolfi New Investigator Award at UArizona, and the 2022 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Pharmaceutics Research Award, Dr. Lu serves as the Director for Pharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics Track at R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy, the Associate Editor for Frontiers in Medical Technology: Nano-Based Drug Delivery and was the Secretary of Knowledge Management in AACP Pharmaceutics Section. Dr. Lu has been recognized as the Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigator.

Areas of Research 

Drug Delivery
Nanomedicine
Pharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics
Nano-ImmunoEngineering
Cancer Immunotherapy
Chemotherapy
Biomaterials

Types of Research

Basic and Applied Sciences
Industry
Translational Medicine

Selected Publications

1. Wang Z, Li W, Jiang Y, Park J, Gonzalez KM, Wu X, Zhang QY, Lu J. Cholesterol-modified sphingomyelin chimeric lipid bilayer for improved therapeutic delivery. Nature Communications. 2024 Mar 7;15(1):2073. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46331-7. PMID: 38453918 
2. Wang Z, Li W, Jiang Y, Tran TB, Chung J, Kim M, Scott AJ, Lu J. Camptothesome-based combination nanotherapeutic regimen for improved colorectal cancer immunochemotherapy.  Biomaterials. 2024 Apr;306:122477. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2024.122477. PMID: 38309054 
3. Wang, Z., Li, W., Jiang, Y., Tran T.B., Cordova, L.E., Chung, JG., Kim, M., Wondrak, G., Erdrich, J., Lu, J. Sphingomyelin-derived epacadostat nanovesicles for enhanced metastatic and post-surgical melanoma immunotherapy. Nature Communications. 2023;14(1):7235. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43079-4. PMCID: PMC10636136
4. Wang Z, Li W, Park J, Gonzalez KM, Scott AJ, Lu J. Camptothesome elicits immunogenic cell death to boost colorectal cancer immune checkpoint blockade. Journal of Controlled Release. 2022 Sep;349:929-939. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.07.042. PMID: 35926754 
5. Wang Z, Little N, Chen J, Lambesis KT, Le KT, Han W, Scott AJ, Lu J. Immunogenic camptothesome nanovesicles comprising sphingomyelin-derived camptothecin bilayers for safe and synergistic cancer immunochemotherapy. Nature Nanotechnology. 2021 Oct;16(10):1130-1140. doi: 10.1038/s41565-021-00950-z. PMID: 34385682 
6. Lu J, Liu X, Liao YP, Salazar F, Sun B, Jiang W, Chang CH, Jiang J, Wang X, Wu AM, Meng H, Nel AE. Nano-enabled pancreas cancer immunotherapy using immunogenic cell death and reversing immunosuppression. Nature Communications. 2017 Nov 27;8(1):1811. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01651-9. PMID: 29180759 

Honors and Awards

2024 - UACC Clinical and Translational Oncology Program (CTOP) Publication Award, 04/24
2024 - UACC CTOP Publication Award, 03/24
2024 - Departmental Publication Award
2024 - UACC Cancer Prevention & Control Program Publication Award
2023 - Departmental Strategic Fund Pilot Project Award
2023 - UACC Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) Mentor Support
202 - UArizona Research, Innovation & Impact (RII) Fund Award
2023 - Merck Best Poster Award (to Postdoc Dr. Z. Wang), 2023 Controlled Release Society Meeting
2023 - NIH/NCI R01 CA272487-01A1
2022 - A. Jay Gandolfi New Investigator Award, UArizona R Ken Coit College of Pharmacy
2022 - Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigator
2022 - NIH/NIGMS Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) (R35)
2022 - American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Pharmaceutics Research Award
2022 - PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant in Drug Delivery
2020 - Featured as a distinguished alumnus by AAPS-Pitt Student Chapter
2020 - NIH/NIEHS-sponsored SWEHSC Pilot Project Award                  
2020 - State of Arizona’s Technology and Research Initiative Fund           
2018 - NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA T32 Award, University of California, Los Angeles
2014 - Norman R. and Priscilla A. Farnsworth Award, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh
2014 - Travel Award, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh
2012 - Best Poster Award, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh
2012 - Travel Award, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh