Emrick, Todd
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Professor, Department Polymer Science and Engineering
Last Name
Emrick
First Name
Todd
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Engineering
Other Engineering
Other Engineering
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Synthetic organic and polymer chemistry, functionalization of nanoparticles including quantum dots and biologically-derived nanoparticles, polymer therapeutics, polymer pro-drugs, and polymer-DNA polyplexes.
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Publication Source Data for Self-Spinning Filaments for Autonomously Linked Microfibers(2022-01-01) Barber, Dylan M; Emrick, Todd; Gregory, Grason; Crosby, AlFilamentous bundles are ubiquitous in Nature, achieving highly adaptive functions and structural integrity from assembly of diverse mesoscale supramolecular elements. Engineering routes to synthetic, topologically integrated analogs demands precisely coordinated control of multiple filaments’ shapes and positions, a major challenge when performed without complex machinery or labor-intensive processing. Here, we demonstrate a photocreasing design that encodes local curvature and twist into mesoscale polymer filaments, enabling their programmed transformation into target 3-dimensional geometries. Importantly, patterned photocreasing of filament arrays drives autonomous spinning to form linked filament bundles that are highly entangled and structurally robust. In individual filaments, photocreases unlock paths 16 to arbitrary, 3-dimensional curves in space. Collectively, photocrease-mediated bundling establishes a transformative paradigm enabling smart, self-assembled mesostructures that mimic performance-differentiating structures in Nature (e.g., tendon and muscle fiber) and the macro-engineered world (e.g., rope).Publication Reengineering Tumor Microenvironment with Sequential Interleukin Delivery(2021-01-01) Figueiredo, Marxa L.; Letteri, Rachel; Chan-Seng, Delphine; Kumar, Shreya; Rivera-Cruz, Cosette M.; Emrick, Todd S.Some cytokines can reengineer anti-tumor immunity to modify the tumor micro-environment. Interleukin-27 (IL-27) can partially reduce tumor growth in several animal models, including prostate cancer. We hypothesized that addition of IL-18, which can induce the proliferation of several immune effector cells through inducing IFNγ could synergize with IL-27 to enhance tumor growth control. We describe our findings on the effects of IL-27 gene delivery on prostate cancer cells and how sequential therapy with IL-18 enhanced the efficacy of IL-27. The combination of IL-27 followed by IL-18 (27→18) successfully reduced cancer cell viability, with significant effects in cell culture and in an immunocompetent mouse model. We also examined a novel chimeric cytokine, comprising an IL-27 targeted at the C-terminus with a short peptide, LSLITRL (27pepL). This novel cytokine targets a receptor upregulated in tumor cells (IL-6Rα) via the pepL ligand. Interestingly, when we compared the 27→18 combination with the single 27pepL therapy, we observed a similar efficacy for both. This efficacy was further enhanced when 27pepL was sequenced with IL-18 (27pepL→18). The observed reduction in tumor growth and significantly enriched canonical pathways and upstream regulators, as well as specific immune effector signatures (as determined by bioinformatics analyses in the tumor microenvironment) supported the therapeutic design, whereby IL-27 or 27pepL can be more effective when delivered with IL-18. This cytokine sequencing approach allows flexible incorporation of both gene delivery and recombinant cytokines as tools to augment IL-27’s bioactivity and reengineer efficacy against prostate tumors and may prove applicable in other therapeutic settings.Publication Sonodelivery in Skeletal Muscle: Current Approaches and Future Potential(2020-01-01) Decker, Richard E.; Lamantia, Zachary E.; Emrick, Todd S.; Figueiredo, Marxa L.There are currently multiple approaches to facilitate gene therapy via intramuscular gene delivery, such as electroporation, viral delivery, or direct DNA injection with or without polymeric carriers. Each of these methods has benefits, but each method also has shortcomings preventing it from being established as the ideal technique. A promising method, ultrasound-mediated gene delivery (or sonodelivery) is inexpensive, widely available, reusable, minimally invasive, and safe. Hurdles to utilizing sonodelivery include choosing from a large variety of conditions, which are often dependent on the equipment and/or research group, and moderate transfection efficiencies when compared to some other gene delivery methods. In this review, we provide a comprehensive look at the breadth of sonodelivery techniques for intramuscular gene delivery and suggest future directions for this continuously evolving field.Publication Sonodelivery Facilitates Sustained Luciferase Expression from an Episomal Vector in Skeletal Muscle(2015-01-01) Neto, Manoel Figueiredo; Letteri, Rachel; Chan-Seng, Delphine; Emrick, Todd; Figueiredo, Marxa L.Successful gene delivery to skeletal muscle is a desirable goal, not only for treating muscle diseases, but also for immunization, treatment of metabolic disorders, and/or delivering gene expression that can treat systemic conditions, such as bone metastatic cancer, for example. Although naked DNA uptake into skeletal muscle is possible, it is largely inefficient in the absence of additional chemical or physical delivery methods. We describe a system for delivery of non-viral or plasmid DNA to skeletal muscle using ultrasound-assisted sonoporation of a nanoplex combining plasmid DNA and a branched polymer based on poly(cyclooctene-graft-oligopeptide). The materials and methods described herein promise to advance the field of sonodelivery and of gene delivery to muscle for therapeutic applications since a simple system is presented that enables long-term gene expression in vivo with the promise of a minimal inflammatory gene expression profile.Publication Source Data for Mingqiu Hu, Hong-Gyu Seong, Michael S. Dimitriyev, Weiguo Hu, Zhan Chen, Gregory M. Grason, Todd Emrick, and Thomas P. Russell, "Backbone chain stitching in bottlebrush statistical copolymers"(2024-01-01) Hu, Mingqiu; Seong, Hong-Gyu; Dimitriyev, Michael S.; Hu, Weiguo; Chen, Zhan; Gregory, Grason M.; Emrick, Todd S.; Russell, Thomas P.; Gregory, Grason; Emrick, Todd; Gregory, Grason; Emrick, Todd