Curiosity, perseverance inspire Gu
Zhen Gu’s advances in diabetes and cancer treatment have been inspired not only by personal factors but also by curiosity, perseverance and a sense of gratitude.
Zhen Gu, an assistant professor in North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s joint biomedical engineering program, was recently named one of MIT Technology Review’s “Innovators Under 35” for his work on developing novel drug-delivery systems for treating cancer and diabetes.
The annual list, which Tech Review has issued since 1999, was created to highlight exceptionally talented young innovators from around the world in a variety of fields. Previous winners include Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Gu’s advances in diabetes and cancer treatment have been inspired not only by personal factors but also by curiosity, perseverance and a sense of gratitude.
He took a few moments to give us his insider perspective of his most recent work:
You did your graduate work at UCLA and your postdoctoral work at MIT and Harvard. What drew you specifically to the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering?
I still remember how excited I was when our department chair Dr. Nancy Allbritton called me about the offer. I received my Ph.D. in both chemical engineering and mechanical engineering, and my postdoc training was at the interface of engineering and biomedical science. I always appreciated those interdisciplinary platforms, which can fuse different perspectives and generate innovative ideas in an efficient way. Then I found the unique joint BME program between UNC an NC State. It was exactly what I was looking for.
In the past three years, I’ve really enjoyed the terrific environment for research, teaching and collaboration between both campuses. I’m proud of witnessing the fast growth of biomedical engineering. Also, the atmosphere and culture of both research development and translation in the Research Triangle Park area is fantastic; we’re now preparing to launch a start-up company based on our latest invention soon.
As a biomedical engineer, you could work within any medical field to help people. Why do you dedicate a big part of your lab to diabetes and cancer research?
It has always been my dream to address the suffering associated with different diseases. I always feel lucky when our lab is able to develop new drug delivery systems, even if they provide just one more step toward a treatment or cure. Diabetes and cancer are common diseases with tremendous impact on health worldwide. Also, my personal experiences inspire me. I lost my biological father to cancer 34 years ago, and later watched my beloved grandma suffer from diabetes. My mom never expected I could do something for treating cancer, because before I came to the United States I was working on plastic electronics. Now I’m happy to report to her the progress of my lab’s ongoing projects. I also remember how excited my grandma was when I told her I was trying to create “smart insulin” for diabetics. Sometimes, your passion and mission are inspired by people around you. Even telling them your goals can make them happy.
How did you come up with the idea for the smart insulin patch, and how would you describe its implications?
The smart insulin patch is our latest invention to achieve glucose-responsive delivery of insulin, supported by a Pathway Award from the American Diabetes Association. Current standard care for Type 1 and advanced Type 2 diabetics requires consistent monitoring of blood glucose and multiple insulin injections every day. The treatment can be painful and does not always result in precise control of blood glucose levels, which accounts for many chronic complications. Hypoglycemia raises risks of brain damage, or even death. Therefore, a glucose-responsive delivery system that is able to “secrete” insulin in response to blood-sugar level changes is highly desirable to improve the quality of life for diabetics.
Our smart insulin patch uses a painless microneedle-array loaded with synthetic insulin vesicles, inspired by the natural vesicles inside pancreatic cells. In short, the patch releases insulin automatically when it is needed. This is the first demonstration of a glucose-responsive device utilizing a hypoxia trigger for rapid regulation of insulin release. This smart patch can regulate the blood glucose of diabetic mice to achieve normal levels within 30 minutes and avoid risk of hypoglycemia.
What excites you most about the future of biomedical engineering in relation to developing methods to help people in need, and what can we expect to see from your lab in the coming years?
For me, learning from nature and applying bio-inspired or biomimetic approaches for drug delivery or tissue engineering is probably the most exciting theme. For example, mimicking the function of vesicles in pancreatic cells, you can develop smart formulations for insulin delivery. Or by mimicking the properties of a virus you may develop the next-generation of targeted nano-capsules for cancer treatment. By mimicking the behavior of immune cells, we could be able to develop powerful synthetic cells for fighting cancer and infection.
Currently, we have several exciting projects in development. For diabetes treatment, with grants from both foundations and pharmaceutical companies, we are collaborating with Dr. John Buse in the Department of Medicine and director of the NC TraCS Institute for further pre-clinical trials of the “smart insulin patch.” We have also created a team of researchers – including Dr. Buse, Dr. Frances Ligler from the BME department, and Dr. David Lawrence from Department of Chemistry – to develop even more innovative and effective formulations. For cancer therapy, we have initiated collaboration with Dr. Shelley Earp, former director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. We’re trying to leverage the physiology of tumors and other cellular environments to explore programmable nanomedicine. We hope to deliver and release one or multiple drugs to the most active sites of these environments with high selectivity and enhanced efficacy.
These projects are exciting because I really believe they have great potential to help a lot of people.
The real question is that after this award, everyone will know how old you are. How do you feel about that?
I feel very, very lucky. I turn 35 in November.
