Alumni Café: Evolution + Engineering = Nucleic Acid Nanotechnologies to Cure Diseases

Speaker: Professor Omar F. Khan, Canada Research Chair in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, Institute of Biomedical Engineering & Department of Immunology, University of Toronto

Nucleic acids such as mRNA are changing the way we think about medicine. Synthetic mRNA, the innovative technology behind two of the COVID-19 vaccines, might seem like a sudden breakthrough, or a new discovery. In this lecture, Prof. Khan takes us on a quest of where nucleic acids came from and how nanotechnology has enabled their use in vaccines and cancer immunotherapy. Then, in addition to examining the current state of these technologies, Prof. Khan will discuss the remaining challenges and potential solutions.