Craig Duvall
Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Intellectual Neighborhoods
Research Focus
Research Overview: The Duvall Advanced Therapeutics
Laboratory (ATL) specializes in design and application of smart polymer-based
technologies for: (1) intracellular delivery of biological drugs such as
peptides and nucleic acids, (2) proximity-activated targeting of drugs to sites
of inflammation and matrix remodeling, and (3) long-term, “on-demand” drug
release from localized depots. These delivery systems are designed to improve
the therapeutic benefit and safety of existing drugs and/or to serve as
enabling technologies for manipulation of intracellular targets currently
considered to be “undruggable”. To achieve optimal, finely-tuned properties for
these varied biomedical applications, we develop polymers that respond to one
or more environmental stimuli including pH, matrix metalloproteinases, reactive
oxygen species, and temperature. The disease applications of our polymeric
biomaterial and drug delivery technologies are broad, including increasing
longevity and function of transplanted vascular grafts and cell-based therapies,
promoting healing of chronic skin wounds, and developing improved breast cancer
drugs.
Research Environment: The Duvall lab moved in summer 2017 to the new
Engineering and Science Building (ESB) where we are co-localized with other BME
faculty working in biomaterials, drug delivery, regenerative medicine,
molecular and cellular sensing, immunoengineering, and mechanobiology. This
collaborative research environment will contain all of the multidisciplinary
expertise and equipment necessary to carry out cutting edge research across the
full spectrum of synthesis, characterization, and biological testing of bio-
and nano-materials.
ATL research website with more in-depth project descriptions: https://my.vanderbilt.edu/duvall/
Selected Publications
1. TA Werfel, S Wang, MA Jackson, TE Kavanaugh, MM Joly, L Lee, DJ Hicks, VM Sanchez, PI Gonzalez-Ericsson, KV Kilchrist, SC Dimobi, SM Sarett, DM Brantley-Sieders , RS Cook, CL Duvall. Selective mTORC2 inhibitor therapeutically blocks breast cancer cell growth and survival. Cancer Research. 2018 Apr 1;78(7):1845-1858. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-2388.
2. SM Sarett, TA Werfel, KV Kilchrist, DM Brantley-Sieders, CL Duvall. Lipophilic siRNA Targets Albumin in Situ and Promotes Bioavailability, Tumor Penetration, and Carrier-Free Gene Silencing. Proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences. Published ahead of print July 24, 2017, doi:10.1073/pnas.1621240114.
3. MA Jackson, TA Werfel, E Curvino, F Yu, TE Kavanaugh, SM Sarett, M Dockery, KV Kilchrist, A Jackson, TD Giorgio, CL Duvall. Zwitterionic Nanocarrier Surface Chemistry Improves siRNA Tumor Delivery and Silencing Activity Relative to Polyethylene Glycol. ACS Nano. 2017 Jun 27;11(6):5680-5696.
Full Publication List:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=duvall%20cl[Author]
Selected Awards
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
- China-America Frontiers of Engineering (CAFOE) NAE Symposium Participant,
- Biomedical Engineering Society Young Innovator in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering
- Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award
- National Science Foundation CAREER Award
- Fellow
of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
- 2018
- Vanderbilt Chancellor's Faculty Fellow - 2018
- NIH Gene and Drug Delivery (GDD) study section standing member - 2018-2022