| Biography | |
|---|---|
 Dr. Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig The University of Hong Kong, China |
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| Title: A DNA Nanodevice Simultaneously Activating the EGFR and Integrin for Enhancing Cytoskeletal Activity and Cancer Cell Treatmen | |
| Abstract: Cell-surface receptors (e.g., EGFR and integ-rin) and their interactions play determining roles in signal transduction and cytoskeletal activation, which affect cell attachment/detachment, invasion, motility, metastasis (intra-cellular), and cell−cell signaling. For instance, the interactions between the EGFR and integrin (α6β4) may cause increased mechanical force and shear stress via enhanced cytoskeleton activation. Here, we design a DNA nanodevice (DNA-ND) that can simultaneously target the EGFR and integrin receptors on the caveolae. The piconewton (pN) forces in response to the EGFR−integrin coactivation can be sensed upon the unfolding of the DNA hairpin structure on the side arm of the device via changes of the fluorescence and plasmonic signals. We find that simultaneous activation of EGFR−integrin receptors causes enhanced signal transduction, contractions of the cells, and initiation of the biochemical pathways, thus resulting in a change of the cell division and endocytosis/exocytosis processes that affect the cell proliferation/apoptosis. The DNA-ND further enables us to visualize the cointernalization and degradation of the receptors by lysosomes, providing a novel approach toward bioimaging and mechano-pharmacology. Keywords:
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| Biography: Dr. Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig is a registered Pharmacist and currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong under the supervision of Professor Chengfei Zhang. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and MPhil (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) degrees from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, Pakistan, and a Ph.D. degree from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University (NJU), China under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Xing-Hua Xia. His research work is about Biomedical Engineering, Mechano-Pharmacology, Polymers, Material Chemistry, DNA Nanotechnology, Developmental Biology, Neuroscience, Nano-Therapeutics, Bio-sensing, Bio-imaging, Diagnostics, Biotechnology, Biophysics, and Biochemistry. His current research focus is designing DNA based novel functional & bio-active nanomaterials to apply in Restorative Dentistry, Oral Microbiology & Oncology, Regenerative Therapeutics, Stem Cells Research, Drug Delivery, and Molecular Pharmaceutics. He published in the top journals e.g Nano Letters (ACS, USA), indexed in Harvard University Library Press. | |
