Events Calendar

Matt Francis's Group - Rocio Avila, Peter Calabrese, Aaron Lobsenz, Emily Muenzer, Naris Nusaibah, Jack Rivkin, Madeline Tabora, Irene Tang, Austin Zhu

Why Viruses Are Better at Delivering Drugs Than We Are

Many of today’s most powerful drugs are large and fragile molecules that are easily degraded in the body and difficult to deliver to specific cells or tissues. Effective delivery therefore requires protection, targeting, and controlled transport through complex biological environments–tasks that nature already performs through highly evolved systems for molecular recognition and self-assembly. Thus, if we want to solve these delivery challenges, it makes sense to repurpose biological systems that already excel at them. One promising solution comes from an unexpected source: viruses. While often associated with disease, viruses are also remarkably efficient natural delivery vehicles; they evolved to package a cargo, protect it, and transport it into cells. In this presentation, we will focus on the work of Dr. Matthew B. Francis (UC Berkeley), which explores how virus-like particles (VLPs) and protein-based systems can be repurposed as customizable drug delivery platforms. By leveraging the natural ability of VLPs to self-assemble and interact with biological environments, and pairing these features with precise, well-chosen chemical modifications, we can load them with drugs, control how the drugs are carried, and tune how and when they are released. These strategies rely on mild chemistry and native biological components, allowing us to expand what viruses can do without disrupting their structure or function. Come to our talk to learn how combining natural biological systems with clever chemistry can open new directions in drug delivery and therapeutic design!

*This seminar counts towards the chemistry major seminar attendance requirement for all majors.

from Chemistry