Moon Lab
Principal Investigator: James J. Moon
Institution: University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
Primary Subfield: Synthetic Bio
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
ABSTRACT Despite the success of immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs), only a subset of patients responds to ICBs. In addition, patients treated with ICBs exhibit high incidences of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Thus, there is a critical need for powerful yet safe combination approaches for immunotherapy. In particular, recent studies have shown that the gut microbiome plays a crucial role in cancer patients' response rate to ICBs. The current approaches to restore healthy gut microbiome include oral ingestion of defined probiotics or fecal microbiota transplantation. However, it will be very challenging to develop these as a pharmaceutical product due to scale-up manufacturing and quality control. To address these challenges, we are developing a new technology that can improve cancer immunotherapy by targeting the colon and modulating the gut microbiome in situ. We are developing an oral inulin-gel formulation that can modulate the gut microbiome and promote strong anti-tumor T cell response. In preliminary studies, we have shown that our inulin-gel can significantly augment the anti-tumor efficacy of anti-PD-1 ICB therapy without toxicity in multiple murine models. Here, we…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01CA271799-05: Biomaterials for modulating the gut microbiome for immune activation (2026)
- 5R01DE031951-05: Engineered Nano-formulations for STING Activation (2026)
- 1R01CA316043-01: Innate-Immune Activating Nanoparticles for Cancer Treatment (2026)
- 1R01DK144842-01A1: Biomaterials for Treatment of Type-1 Diabetes (2026)
- 1R01EB039718-01: New Drug Delivery Strategy for Gut Microbiome (2026)
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