Yong (Tiger) Zhang, associate professor of pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences and chemistry, is the recipient of the USC Stevens Translation Catalyst Award in the amount of $50,000 for his project, “Targeting Metastatic Cancer with Immunotherapeutic Exosomes.”
Bone metastases, cancer that has spread to the skeleton, are among the most painful and difficult-to-treat complications of advanced cancer. Zhang’s project engineers exosomes, tiny biological vesicles, to carry immune-activating signals directly to bone tumors, recruiting the body’s own defenses to fight back. The platform has demonstrated early promise and may ultimately be applicable across multiple cancer types.
Funding will support pharmacological and efficacy studies to build the proof-of-concept data needed to attract industry partners and advance toward human trials.
The USC Stevens Translation Catalyst Awards support proof-of-concept research to advance technologies from lab to product.