Congratulations to UF BME postdoctoral researcher, Isaac Adjei, Ph.D., who was selected for the 2018 BMES Career Development Award.

This travel award provides complimentary registration to the 2018 BMES Annual Meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center and a $600 travel stipend to help cover meeting travel expenses.

Adjei’s research in Dr. Blanka Sharma’s lab focuses on developing strategies to overcome immunosuppressive mechanisms within solid tumors. Solid tumors produce a microenvironment that suppresses the cytotoxic function of natural killer cells which generally kill cancer cells and recruit other immune cells to suppress tumor growth. Adjei’s work involves developing nanoparticles that deliver siRNA to natural killer cells to help them resist immune suppression and promote cytotoxicity to cancer cells. The nanoparticles have the potential to advance cancer immunotherapy and improve the survival of cancer patients.