ABSTRACT
Intracellular Delivery of Protein Therapeutics
Despite enormous efforts, achieving efficacious levels of therapeutic proteins inside mammalian cells remains challenging due to the inability of proteins to cross biological membranes and reach the cytosol. To address this, my lab has developed a robust delivery platform based on a bacterial toxin that normally translocates an enzyme into the cytosolic compartment of target cells via binding to a specific host cell receptor. Through protein engineering we have transformed this toxin into a safe platform that can deliver a number of different protein-based cargos into specific cells with exceptional efficiency, including enzymes that target and degrade otherwise undruggable cancer targets.
BIO
Roman Melnyk completed his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Charles Deber, where he studied membrane protein folding and function using synthetic peptides, and postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School under the supervision of John Collier, where he studied how bacterial toxins cross membranes. He was a Senior Scientist at Merck from 2006-2011 before joining the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in 2011, where he is currently an Associate Professor in Biochemistry, Senior Scientist in Molecular Medicine and Scientific Director of SickKids Drug Discovery lab.
Intracellular Delivery of Protein Therapeutics
Despite enormous efforts, achieving efficacious levels of therapeutic proteins inside mammalian cells remains challenging due to the inability of proteins to cross biological membranes and reach the cytosol. To address this, my lab has developed a robust delivery platform based on a bacterial toxin that normally translocates an enzyme into the cytosolic compartment of target cells via binding to a specific host cell receptor. Through protein engineering we have transformed this toxin into a safe platform that can deliver a number of different protein-based cargos into specific cells with exceptional efficiency, including enzymes that target and degrade otherwise undruggable cancer targets.
BIO
Roman Melnyk completed his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Charles Deber, where he studied membrane protein folding and function using synthetic peptides, and postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School under the supervision of John Collier, where he studied how bacterial toxins cross membranes. He was a Senior Scientist at Merck from 2006-2011 before joining the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in 2011, where he is currently an Associate Professor in Biochemistry, Senior Scientist in Molecular Medicine and Scientific Director of SickKids Drug Discovery lab.