Shaoqin (Sarah) Gong

About

Shaoqin (Sarah) Gong, PhD, is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with over 20 years of experience as a scientist, researcher, and educator. Since 2010, she has held appointments in the UW Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, and recently joined the UW Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (DOVS) faculty. Gong's research spans a diverse range of topics including cancer immunotherapy, CRISPR genome editing, and targeted drug delivery, with a particular focus on developing new biotechnologies to improve human health, including vision. Her laboratory specializes in creating multifunctional nanoparticles that serve as tiny carriers for diagnosing and treating diseases, impacting not only eye diseases but also vascular, brain, liver, lung diseases, and cancer. Gong is a prolific collaborator across campus, working closely with DOVS faculty such as David Gamm, MD, PhD, on projects ranging from tissue engineering scaffolds to gene therapy. Notably, her lab helped develop an implantable photoreceptor patch to deliver new photoreceptor cells derived from human stem cells to the retina. She has also partnered with Gamm and Bikash Pattnaik, PhD, to explore CRISPR gene editing approaches for treating inherited eye diseases like Leber congenital amaurosis. Additional collaborations include work with Robert Nickells, PhD, Olachi Mezu-Ndubuisi, MD, and an upcoming project with Curtis Brandt, PhD. Gong expresses enthusiasm…

Research topics

• Biochemistry
• Computer Science
• Biology
• Medicine
• Immunology
• Pharmacology
• Data science
• Cancer research
• Chemistry
• Materials science

Selected publications

• A Dual‐Responsive Antibiotic‐Loaded Nanoparticle Specifically Binds Pathogens and Overcomes Antimicrobial‐Resistant Infections

  Advanced Materials · 2021 · 160 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections are a growing threat to public health and there is a general lack of development in new antibiotics. Here, a dextran-coated stimuli-responsive nanoparticle (NP) that encapsulates the hydrophobic antibiotic, rifampicin, and specifically binds bacteria to overcome AMR infections is reported. The NP shows a strong affinity with a variety of pathogens in vitro and effectively accumulates in the bacterial infected tissues. The NP is activated by either low pH…

  DOI

• NAD(H)-loaded nanoparticles for efficient sepsis therapy via modulating immune and vascular homeostasis

  Nature Nanotechnology · 2022 · 151 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing program

  Nature · 2021 · 130 citations

  The move from reading to writing the human genome offers new opportunities to improve human health. The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) Somatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE) Consortium aims to accelerate the development of safer and more-effective methods to edit the genomes of disease-relevant somatic cells in patients, even in tissues that are difficult to reach. Here we discuss the consortium's plans to develop and benchmark approaches to induce and measure genome modifications…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multimodal nanoimmunotherapy engages neutrophils to eliminate Staphylococcus aureus infections

  Nature Nanotechnology · 2024-04-17 · 87 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multifunctional nanoparticle potentiates the in situ vaccination effect of radiation therapy and enhances response to immune checkpoint blockade

  Nature Communications · 2022-08-23 · 77 citations

  articleOpen access

  Radiation therapy (RT) activates an in situ vaccine effect when combined with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), yet this effect may be limited because RT does not fully optimize tumor antigen presentation or fully overcome suppressive mechanisms in the tumor-immune microenvironment. To overcome this, we develop a multifunctional nanoparticle composed of polylysine, iron oxide, and CpG (PIC) to increase tumor antigen presentation, increase the ratio of M1:M2 tumor-associated macrophages, and enha…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Multifunctional Unimolecular Micelles for Targeted Cancer Therapy

  NSF · $375k · 2010–2014

• Enabling Nanoplatforms for Targeted in vivo Delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 Ribonucleoproteins in the Brain

  NIH · $1.5M · 2018–2021

• Restoring Vision with High-Fidelity Nonsense Codon Correction

  NIH · $7.8M · 2021–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Yuyuan Wang

  Soochow University

  171 shared

• Ruosen Xie

  162 shared

• Guojun Chen

  117 shared

• Qifeng Zheng

  South China Normal University

  89 shared

• Zhenqiang Ma

  82 shared

• Yi Zhao

  Xi'an Jiaotong University

  61 shared

• Srikanth Pilla

  University of Delaware

  61 shared

• Nisakorn Yodsanit

  57 shared

Labs

• Gong LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

  University of Wisconsin-Madison

  2006

• M.D., Ophthalmology

  University of Wisconsin-Madison

  2000

• B.S., Biology

  University of Wisconsin-Madison

  1996

Awards & honors

• Advancing Vision Science Professorship, 2021–Present
• Retina Research Foundation Edwin and Dorothy Gamewell Profes…
• Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Innovation Award, 2021
• Draper Technology Innovation Fund Award, University of Wisco…
• Kellett Mid-Career Award, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2…

Similar researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Daniel Alberth-70
• David Gammh-57
• Amitha Domalpallyh-36