Development of a novel platform lipid nanoparticle system to induce tailored immune responses for therapeutic benefit

The aim of this collaborative project is to develop formulations based on fat/lipid-based cube structures (known as cubosomes), and to understand how they interact with the immune system in order to develop effective therapeutics. We will use a multidisciplinary approach and a range of methods or tools. We have chosen to investigate inflammatory responses as these impact on many debilitating diseases (e.g. cancer, autoimmune and neurodegenerative conditions), but they can also be harnessed to promote immunity (e.g. improve vaccine effects). The toolkit of methods will include: immunoassays (to ascertain how the cubosomes interact with immune cells and cancer patient samples so that therapeutics can be developed); testing in animals (to begin the process of developing viable, commercial products); computer simulations (to understand how individual parts of the cubosomes and the whole structure interact with immune cells) and chemical design (to improve the interactions). Individuals in the expert multidisciplinary team comprise cancer biologists, fat/lipid chemists, and chemical engineers. The team consists of the following academic and biopharmaceutical partners: Dr Mark Williams, Lecturer in Cancer Biology, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK; Dr Donald Kelemen, Head of Corporate and Business Development, ABITEC (https://www.abiteccorp.com/en/), US; Prof Virgil Schijns, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and vice-president ERC Epitopoietic Research Corporation (https://www.erc-immunotherapy.com/), Belgium; Dr Valerie Ferro, Senior Lecturer, University of Strathclyde, UK; Dr Paul Mulheran, Reader in Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Strathclyde, UK. The above team has experience of successfully working together on other projects. External funding from Abitec (50%) will support the project.