About Kai Huang
Kai Huang (https://kaihuang-nano.weebly.com/) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. Before this, Kai was a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Gang Han's group at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Kai obtained a B.S. degree in Materials Chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China and a Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering at the National University of Singapore. Dr. Han's group works at the intersection between nanotechnology, neuroscience, bioimaging, and therapy, focusing on developing optically active nanomaterials/molecules for probing signal transduction pathways, single-molecule imaging, spatiotemporal activation of neurons/immune cells, as well as diagnosis and drug delivery. Dr. Han's group collaborates closely with Dr. Yubin Zhou's group and Dr. Yun Huang's group at the Texas A&M University on developing novel nano-optogenetic approaches for wireless control of protein function and cell signaling. Dr. Zhou's group and Dr. Huang's group focus on cutting-edge research in synthetic immunology, epigenetics, protein design & engineering, chemical biology, and optogenetics.
Intro Content
Nature Nanotechnology
A novel nano-optogenetic approach for precision immunotherapy
We developed intelligent light-switchable chimeric antigen receptor T cells that can be remotely activated and spatiotemporally controlled by a nano-optogenetic approach. It confers precise control over anti-tumor immunity with enhanced safety, being potential for next-generation precision medicine.