Ms Cheng Jin
Position:
- PhD Candidate, Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toronto
Websites:
Biography:
My research focuses on nanotechnology and nanomaterials for cancer research. Our lab has recently discovered porphysomes, the first all-organic nanoparticles that enable tremendous opportunities for photonic based imaging and therapy. Porphysomes were reputed "Top 10 cancer breakthroughs in 2011" by Canadian Cancer Society. My current research focuses on the assessment of porphysomes in photothermal therapy. Porphysomes are novel intrinsic multifunctional nanovesicles that serve as potent photothermal therapeutic agents due to their unique photoacoustic and photothermal properties. In my previous projects, I have successfully produced and characterized porphysomes in terms of their physiochemical properties, and have demonstrated that porphysome-enabled photothermal therapy (PTT) can completely eradicate tumours in a xenograft model. Currently, this project is ongoing with extension to orthotopic prostate tumour models to investigate the photothermal therapeutic efficacy of porphysomes for focal laser therapy in prostate cancer. In future projects, I aim to improve the porphysome formulation to include targeting ligands via collaboration for tumour-specific accumulation, and therefore enhance the therapeutic specificity and the overall therapeutic value.
Best publications:
1. Lovell, J. F.; Jin, C. S.; Huynh, E.; Jin, H.; Kim, C.; Rubinstein, J. L.; Chan, W. C.; Cao, W.; Wang, L. V.; Zheng, G., Porphysome nanovesicles generated by porphyrin bilayers for use as multimodal biophotonic contrast agents. Nature Materials 2011, 10 (4), 324-32.
2. Lovell, J.F.; Jin, C.S., Huynh, E.; MacDonald, T.; Cao, W.; Zheng, G.Enzymatic Regioselection for the Synthesis and Biodegradation of Porphysome Nanovesicles. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2012, 51(10), 2429-2433.
3. Jin, C. S. and Zheng, G., Liposomal nanostructures for photosensitizer delivery. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 2011, 43: 734–748.
4. Chow, E. C.; Sondervan, M.; Jin, C.; Groothuis, G. M.; Pang, K. S., Comparative effects of doxercalciferol (1alpha-hydroxyvitamin D(2)) versus calcitriol (1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3)) on the expression of transporters and enzymes in the rat in vivo. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2010.
5. Lee, C. Y.; Jin, C.*; Mata, A. M.; Tanaka, T.; Einarson, A.; Koren, G., A pilot study of paternal drug exposure: the Motherisk experience. Reproductive Toxicology 2010, 29 (3), 353-60. * Co-first author
Porphysome, Nanomaterials, Nanotechnology, Cancer research, Prostate cancer, Photothermal therapy, Photodynamic therapy, Focal laser therapy.
