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Craig Duvall

Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Director of Graduate Studies in Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Research Focus

Duvall Research Website

 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 using materials that synergize with drug activity to promote therapeutic effects. The ATL has recently established strengths in RNA and protein molecular design toward creating experimental (gene silencing and editing) therapies that manipulate disease-causing targets currently considered to be “undruggable”. The disease applications in our work span creating disease modifying osteoarthritis drugs, developing molecularly targeted cancer therapies, promoting healing of chronic skin wounds, development of long-acting glaucoma treatments, and improving outcomes of vascular (transplant and angioplasty) procedures.

Publications

Google Scholar

 1.     P Patil, KA Russo, JT McCune, AC Pollins, MA Cottam, BR Dollinger, CR DeJulius, MK Gupta, R D’Arcy, JM Colazo, F Yu, MG Bezold, JR Martin, NL Cardwell, JM Davidson, CM Thompson, A Barbul, AM Hasty, SA Guelcher, CL Duvall. ROS-Degradable Polythioketal Urethane Foam Dressings to Promote Porcine Skin Wound Repair. Science Translational Medicine. 20 Apr 2022, Vol 14, Issue 641.

2.     SK Bedingfield, JM Colazo, F Yu, DD Liu, MA Jackson, LE Himmel, H Cho, LJ Crofford, KA Hasty, CL Duvall. Amelioration of post-traumatic osteoarthritis via nanoparticle depots delivering small interfering RNA to damaged cartilage. Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2021.

3.     BC Evans, RB Fletcher, KV Kilchrist, EA Dailing, AJ Mukalel, JM Colazo, M Oliver, J Cheung-Flynn, CM Brophy, JW Tierney, JS Isenberg, KD Hankenson, K Ghimire, C Lander, CA Gersbach, CL Duvall. Optimization of an Anionic, Endosome-Escaping Polymer to Potentiate Intracellular Delivery of Cationic Peptides, Biomacromolecules, and Nanoparticles. Nature Communications 2019 Nov 1;10(1):5012.

4.     KV Kilchrist, SC Dimobi, MA Jackson, BC Evans, TA Werfel, EA Dailing, SK Bedingfield, IB Kelly, CL Duvall. Gal8 Visualization of Endosome Disruption Predicts Carrier-mediated Biologic Drug Intracellular Bioavailability. ACS Nano. 2019 Feb 26;13(2):1136-1152.

5.     SM Sarett, TA Werfel, L Lee, MA Jackson, KV Kilchrist, DM Brantley-Sieders, CL Duvall. Lipophilic siRNA Targets Albumin in Situ and Promotes Bioavailability, Tumor Penetration, and Carrier-Free Gene Silencing. PNAS. 2017 Aug 8;114(32):E6490-E6497.

6.     KR Beavers, TA Werfel, T Shen, TE Kavanaugh, KV Kilchrist, JW Mares, JS Fain, CB Wiese, KC Vickers, SM Weiss, CL Duvall. Porous Silicon and Polymer Nanocomposites for Delivery of Peptide Nucleic Acids as anti-microRNA Therapies. Advanced Materials. 2016 Sep;28(36):7984-7992.

7.     BC Evans, KM Hocking, MJ Osgood, I Voskresensky, J Dmowska, KV Kilchrist, CM Brophy, CL Duvall. Nano-polyplex MK2 Inhibitory Peptide Delivery Inhibits Vascular Graft Intimal Hyperplasia. Science Translational Medicine. 2015 Jun 10;7(291):291ra95.

8.     KM Poole, CE Nelson, RV Joshi, JR Martin, MK Gupta, SC Haws, TE Kavanaugh, MC Skala, CL Duvall. ROS-Responsive Microspheres for On Demand Antioxidant Therapy in a Model of Diabetic Peripheral Arterial Disease. Biomaterials. 2015, (41): 166–175.

9.     MK Gupta, JR Martin, TA Werfel, T Shen, JM Page, CL Duvall. Cell Protective, ABC Triblock Polymer-Based Thermoresponsive Hydrogels with ROS-Triggered Degradation and Drug Release. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2014, 136 (42), 14896–14902.

10. CE Nelson, AJ Kim, EJ Adolph, MK Gupta, F Yu, KM Hocking, JM Davidson, SA Guelcher, CL Duvall. Tunable Delivery of siRNA from a Biodegradable Scaffold to Promote Angiogenesis In Vivo. Advanced Materials. 2014 Jan;26(4):607-14.


Selected Awards

  1. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
  2. Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society
  3. Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
  4. Vanderbilt Chancellor's Faculty Fellow
  5. NIH Gene and Drug Delivery (GDD) study section standing member
  6. National Science Foundation CAREER Award
  7. Biomedical Engineering Society Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator
  8. Controlled Release Society Gene Delivery and Gene Editing Focus Group Young Investigator Award
  9. Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award