Honggang Cui

About

Honggang Cui is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with a joint appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He is known for his work developing supramolecular nanomaterials that could be used to target cancer and human diseases. Cui is also the director of doctoral admissions and holds affiliations with the Department of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), and the Wilmer Eye Institute’s Center for Nanomedicine. His research exploits the unique physical, chemical, and biological properties of supramolecular nanostructures to achieve new functions that the underlying molecular building units often do not carry. His lab focuses on the design, characterization, development, optimization, and evaluation of supramolecular assemblies derived from therapeutic agents, imaging agents, and small molecule peptides. Major areas of his work include the molecular engineering and functional assembly of therapeutic agents for treating cancer, aging-related diseases, and wounds; the development of supramolecular imaging agents for disease diagnosis and treatment; and understanding the thermodynamic and kinetic factors affecting the association of small molecular building units into supramolecular polymers and networks. Cui has received several awards and honors, including being a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a…

Research topics

• Cancer research
• Immunology
• Pharmacology
• Medicine
• Chemistry
• Internal medicine
• Biology
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• Tumour sensitization via the extended intratumoural release of a STING agonist and camptothecin from a self-assembled hydrogel

  Nature Biomedical Engineering · 2020 · 297 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Supramolecular prodrug hydrogelator as an immune booster for checkpoint blocker–based immunotherapy

  Science Advances · 2020 · 148 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) have shown great promise at harnessing immune system to combat cancer. However, only a fraction of patients can directly benefit from the anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (aPD1) therapy, and the treatment often leads to immune-related adverse effects. In this context, we developed a prodrug hydrogelator for local delivery of ICBs to boost the host's immune system against tumor. We found that this carrier-free therapeutic system can serve as a reservoir for e…

  DOI

• Self-assembling paclitaxel-mediated stimulation of tumor-associated macrophages for postoperative treatment of glioblastoma

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-04-25 · 66 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The unique cancer-associated immunosuppression in brain, combined with a paucity of infiltrating T cells, contributes to the low response rate and poor treatment outcomes of T cell-based immunotherapy for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Here, we report on a self-assembling paclitaxel (PTX) filament (PF) hydrogel that stimulates macrophage-mediated immune response for local treatment of recurrent glioblastoma. Our results suggest that aqueous PF solutions containing aCD47 c…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supramolecular Filament Hydrogel as a Universal Immunomodulator Carrier for Immunotherapy Combinations

  ACS Nano · 2023-05-22 · 43 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  A major challenge of cancer immunotherapy is to develop delivery strategies that can effectively and safely augment the immune system’s antitumor response. Here, we report on the design and synthesis of a peptide-based supramolecular filament (SF) hydrogel as a universal carrier for localized delivery of three immunomodulating agents of distinct action mechanisms and different molecular weights, including an aPD1 antibody, an IL15 cytokine, and a STING agonist (CDA). We show that in situ hydroge…

  PublisherDOI

• Therapeutic supramolecular polymers: Designs and applications

  Progress in Polymer Science · 2023-12-02 · 39 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R21CA191740

  NIH · $377k · 2017

• Collaborative Research: Well-Defined Polyelectrolyte Nanocages via Crystallized Miniemulsion Nanodroplets

  NSF · $255k · 2014–2017

• CDMR: Tuning the Mechanical Properties of Ordered Supramolecular Polymers and Their Networks

  NSF · $426k · 2015–2018

Frequent coauthors

• Hao Su

  Sichuan University

  81 shared

• Pengcheng Zhang

  Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

  74 shared

• Andrew G. Cheetham

  72 shared

• Feihu Wang

  Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  52 shared

• Han Wang

  Johns Hopkins University

  50 shared

• Ran Lin

  Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine

  49 shared

• Caleb F. Anderson

  Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

  48 shared

• Darrin J. Pochan

  University of Delaware

  44 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  University of Delaware

  2007

• M.S., Chemical Engineering

  Tsinghua University

  2002

• B.S., Polymer

  Beijing University of Chemical Technology

  1999

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological…
• National Sciences Foundation CAREER Award
• 3M Nontenured Faculty Award
• Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award for early career faculty
• Johns Hopkins Discovery Award

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