Duy Nguyen, PhD

My laboratory is dedicated to investigating the biophysical properties of solid tumor microenvironments. We seek to understand the dynamic interactions among cancer cells, the immune system, and the important role of extracellular mechanics in driving tumor progression.

Associations

• BioEngineering
• Breast Oncology
• Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis
• Cancer Biology & Evolution Program

My laboratory will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, combining principles from engineering and systems biology to develop integrated tools and methodologies for basic cancer research. Specifically, my group will focus on three key objectives: 1) develop 3D ex vivo microtumor models for therapeutic drug screen, 2) investigate the impact of physical heterogeneity on immune evasion, drug delivery, and tumor progression, 3) define biophysical stressors that contribute to tumor invasion, metastasis, and dormancy

• Nguyen DT, Pedro DI, Pepe A, Rosa JG, Bowman JI, Trachsel L, Golde GR, Suzuki I, Lavrador JM, Nguyen NTY, Kis MA, Smolchek RA, Diodati N, Liu R, Phillpot SR, Webber AR, Castillo P, Sayour EJ, Sumerlin BS, Sawyer WG. Bioconjugation of COL1 protein on liquid-like solid surfaces to study tumor invasion dynamics. Biointerphases. 2023 Mar.18(2):021001. Pubmedid: 36898958. Pmcid: PMC10008099.
• Nguyen DT, Liu R, Ogando-Rivas E, Pepe A, Pedro D, Qdasait S, Nguyen NTY, Lavrador JM, Golde GR, Smolchek RA, Ligon J, Jin L, Tao H, Webber A, Phillpot S, Mitchell DA, Sayour EJ, Huang J, Castillo P, Sawyer WG. Three-Dimensional Bioconjugated Liquid-Like Solid (LLS) Enhance Characterization of Solid Tumor - Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell interactions. bioRxiv. 2023 Feb. Pubmedid: 36865164. Pmcid: PMC9980005.
• Nguyen DT, Famiglietti JE, Smolchek RA, Dupee Z, Diodati N, Pedro DI, Urueña JM, Schaller MA, Sawyer WG. 3D In Vitro Platform for Cell and Explant Culture in Liquid-like Solids. Cells. 2022 Mar.11(6). Pubmedid: 35326418. Pmcid: PMC8946834.
• Nguyen DT, Ogando-Rivas E, Liu R, Wang T, Rubin J, Jin L, Tao H, Sawyer WW, Mendez-Gomez HR, Cascio M, Mitchell DA, Huang J, Sawyer WG, Sayour EJ, Castillo P. CAR T Cell Locomotion in Solid Tumor Microenvironment. Cells. 2022 Jun.11(12). Pubmedid: 35741103. Pmcid: PMC9221866.
• Schaller MA, Sharma Y, Dupee Z, Nguyen D, Urueña J, Smolchek R, Loeb JC, Machuca TN, Lednicky JA, Odde DJ, Campbell RF, Sawyer WG, Mehrad B. Ex vivo SARS-CoV-2 infection of human lung reveals heterogeneous host defense and therapeutic responses. JCI Insight. 2021 Sep.6(18). Pubmedid: 34357881. Pmcid: PMC8492301.