Omid Farokhzad

Brigham And Women's Hospital

Research Abstract

Omid Farokhzad is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a physician-scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Farokhzad directs the Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials at BWH. He is a faculty member of the Brigham Research Institute Cancer Research Center and a member of the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Dr. Farokhzad’s research is focused on the development of therapeutic nanoparticle technologies; most notably, he pioneered the high throughput combinatorial development and screening of multifunctional nanoparticles for medical applications. Dr. Farokhzad has authored approximately 110 papers and holds more than 135 issued/pending US and International patents. The technologies that Dr. Farokhzad has developed with collaborators at HMS and MIT have formed the basis for: 1) a new class of targeted nanoparticles for treatment of important human diseases including cancer and cardiovascular disease; 2) a new class of synthetic nanoparticle vaccines for prophylactic and therapeutic applications and 3) a new class of integrative combination nanomedicines for synergistic treatment of cancers, inflammation/pain, and infectious diseases. These technologies formed the foundational platform for the launch of three biotechnology companies: BIND Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BIND), Selecta Biosciences, Blend Therapeutics, which are translating the aforementioned academic innovations toward commercialization and societal impact. Dr. Farokhzad was elected to the College of the Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and biological Engineering. He was a recipient of the 2013 RUSNANOPRIZE, one of the largest international nanotechnology prizes, for the development and industrialization of nanoparticle technologies for medical applications. In 2013, the Boston Globe selected him among the top innovators in Massachusetts and the Boston Business Journal selected him among the Health Care Champions for his innovations. In 2012, he was among the regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awardees. Dr. Farokhzad completed his post-graduate clinical and post-doctoral research trainings, respectively, at the BWH/HMS and MIT in the laboratory of Institute Professor Robert Langer. He received his M.D. and M.A. from Boston University School of Medicine.

Research Links

• Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials
• Publications

• Kamaly N, Yameen B, Wu J, Farokhzad OC. Degradable Controlled-Release Polymers and Polymeric Nanoparticles: Mechanisms of Controlling Drug Release. Chem. Rev. 2016; 116:2602-63. PubMed
• Miller MA, Gadde S, Pfirschke C, Engblom C, Sprachman MM, Kohler RH, Yang KS, Laughney AM, Wojtkiewicz G, Kamaly N, Bhonagiri S, Pittet MJ, Farokhzad OC, Weissleder R. Predicting therapeutic nanomedicine efficacy using a companion magnetic resonance imaging nanoparticle. Sci Transl Med 2015; 7:314ra183. PubMed
• Yu M, Wu J, Shi J, Farokhzad OC. Nanotechnology for protein delivery: Overview and perspectives. J Control Release 2015. PubMed
• Wu J, Zhao L, Xu X, Bertrand N, Choi WI, Yameen B, Shi J, Shah V, Mulvale M, MacLean JL, Farokhzad OC. Hydrophobic Cysteine Poly(disulfide)-based Redox-Hypersensitive Nanoparticle Platform for Cancer Theranostics. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2015. PubMed
• Yameen B, Vilos C, Choi WI, Whyte A, Huang J, Pollit L, Farokhzad OC. Drug Delivery Nanocarriers from a Fully Degradable PEG-Conjugated Polyester with a Reduction-Responsive Backbone. Chemistry 2015. PubMed
• Zhu X, Xu Y, Solis LM, Tao W, Wang L, Behrens C, Xu X, Zhao L, Liu D, Wu J, Zhang N, Wistuba II, Farokhzad OC, Zetter BR, Shi J. Long-circulating siRNA nanoparticles for validating Prohibitin1-targeted non-small cell lung cancer treatment. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:7779-84. PubMed
• Maldonado RA, LaMothe RA, Ferrari JD, Zhang AH, Rossi RJ, Kolte PN, Griset AP, O'Neil C, Altreuter DH, Browning E, Johnston L, Farokhzad OC, Langer R, Scott DW, von Andrian UH, Kishimoto TK. Polymeric synthetic nanoparticles for the induction of antigen-specific immunological tolerance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:E156-65. PubMed
• Pridgen EM, Alexis F, Farokhzad OC. Polymeric nanoparticle drug delivery technologies for oral delivery applications. Expert Opin Drug Deliv 2015. PubMed
• Miller MA, Zheng YR, Gadde S, Pfirschke C, Zope H, Engblom C, Kohler RH, Iwamoto Y, Yang KS, Askevold B, Kolishetti N, Pittet M, Lippard SJ, Farokhzad OC, Weissleder R. Tumour-associated macrophages act as a slow-release reservoir of nano-therapeutic Pt(IV) pro-drug. Nat Commun 2015; 6:8692. PubMed
• Saw PE, Park J, Lee E, Ahn S, Lee J, Kim H, Kim J, Choi M, Farokhzad OC, Jon S. Effect of PEG pairing on the efficiency of cancer-targeting liposomes. Theranostics 2015; 5:746-54. PubMed
• Choi WI, Kamaly N, Riol-Blanco L, Lee IH, Wu J, Swami A, Vilos C, Yameen B, Yu M, Shi J, Tabas I, von Andrian UH, Jon S, Farokhzad OC. A solvent-free thermosponge nanoparticle platform for efficient delivery of labile proteins. Nano Lett 2014. PubMed