160 College Street
Toronto
Dr. Shawn Owen (Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry – University of Utah)
Antibodies are important biological scaffolds used in biotherapeutics and diagnostics. The utility of antibodies can be expanded by coupling them with small-molecule drugs or proteins. Using both protein engineering and bioconjugation chemistry, we have created a series of highly-characterized antibody-conjugates that simultaneously deliver multiple drugs to induce new forms of synthetic lethality. Using these platforms, we are able to significantly increase the amount of drug that reaches a therapeutic target and demonstrate the applicability against HER2 positive cancers, as well as, drug-resistant bacteria. In separate approaches, we are utilizing split-enzyme technology to construct a new class of antibody-mediated diagnostics. These ‘wash-free’ homogenous immunoassays are as sensitive and more rapid than current technologies, without cumbersome processing steps. We have successfully constructed assays to measure protein biomarkers to follow cancer treatment and assays to monitor therapeutic drug levels. We are currently applying our platform to investigate important protein-protein interactions.
———————————————————————–
Shawn C. Owen, Ph.D is an Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutics and
Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah. He is also a member of the Huntsman Cancer Institute Experimental Therapeutics Program and the Nano-Institute of Utah. Owen’s research focuses on evaluating the pharmaceutic stability of antibody-based therapeutics, creating ADCs that induce self-amplifying therapeutic cascades, and engineering antibody-split enzyme systems for diagnostic applications. He has published ~25 research papers on biotechnology and his research has produced 4 patent applications. Owen is recognized with several prominent university teaching awards and is sought for outreach workshops by both academia and industry sponsors.
Hosted by Dr. Molly Shoichet. Snacks and Refreshments will be served