Materials scientist wins $1.88M to mimic red blood cells
University of Arizona engineers hide lifesaving drugs in synthetic cell-like carriers to reduce side effects.
Associate professor Minkyu Kim's lab and BIO5 Institute researchers draw on materials science and biomedical engineering to improve drug delivery.
Drug carriers shield medicine, such as chemotherapy, as they travel through the bloodstream. They release medicine at targeted spots, like tumors, sparing healthy tissue along the way. But the body's defenses often intercept these carriers before they reach their destination.
"Our immune system and filtering organs such as the liver, spleen and kidneys are very effective at removing foreign materials from the bloodstream," said Minkyu Kim, associate professor of materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering. "Many drug carriers are cleared too quickly, and higher doses are often needed to compensate, which increases side effects and reduces the effectiveness of treatment."
Kim won a five-year, $1.88 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to develop a long-lasting drug carrier disguised as red blood cells.
"This award is an important validation of the work we've been doing and the ideas we've been developing over the past several years,” he said.
Kim began research on red blood cell-inspired carriers in 2022, after winning a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. The NIGMS award will move his invention toward therapeutic use.
Built to ‘flex, recover and survive’
Over the past 50 years, drug carriers have evolved from polymer-coated capsules that resist stomach acid to microcarriers delivered intravenously. Their small size allows them to access more areas of the body.
“At the same time, many blood-circulating carriers still face a common obstacle – the body’s defense and filtration systems can remove them before enough medicine reaches the target site,” Kim said.
Red blood cells can circulate the body for about 120 days, squeezing through tiny blood vessels and repeatedly returning to their original shape.
"I started asking why red blood cells can travel anywhere in the circulatory system while many engineered particles are removed so quickly," Kim said.
He found that imitating a red blood cell’s cytoskeleton – a network of proteins that give cells their flexibility and durability – in synthetic microcarriers could be his solution.
“Researchers have made important progress in mimicking different features of red blood cells,” Kim said. “My group is focusing on the internal protein network that helps red blood cells flex, recover and survive in circulation for long periods of time.”
His lab, the Kim Research Group, will create protein-based, cytoskeleton-like structures for drug carriers that avoid early immune defenses and deliver treatments to hard-to-reach areas, including those associated with heart and brain conditions.
“Kim's trail-blazing research will extend drug therapeutic levels and reduce dosage frequency, improving treatment effectiveness and avoiding possible organ damage,” said Mario Romero-Ortega, biomedical engineering professor and department head. “Ultimately, this could increase quality of life during harsh treatments like chemotherapy.”
Students will also contribute; doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers will investigate how the synthetic systems perform in the body, while undergraduates will assess protein-based biomaterials and their potential to improve the precision of targeted drug delivery.
"Millions of patients depend on drug delivery systems," Kim said. "If one day this research helps medicines reach the right place with fewer side effects, and patients are happier because of it, that would be the most rewarding outcome."
