Principal Investigators
Jindřich Henry Kopeček
Distinguished Professor of Molecular Pharmaceutics, and of Biomedical Engineering
Email: jindrich.kopecek@utah.edu
Henry received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (IMC) and D.Sc. in Chemistry from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CAS), Prague, Czech Republic. His postdoctoral studies were done at the National Research Council of Canada. His research interests are focused on biorecognition of macromolecules, bioconjugate chemistry, self-assembly of hybrid macromolecules and macromolecular therapeutics. Henry and his coworkers studied the synthesis, stimuli sensitivity, biocompatibility and clinical applications of hydrogels (reviewed in J. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem. 47, 5929, 2009) followed by the development of backbone degradable N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymers as anticancer drug carriers (Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 156, 40, 2020). Inspired by the self-assembly of hybrid graft or block copolymers into hydrogels, his laboratory designed a new paradigm in nanomedicine – drug-free macromolecular therapeutics. Apoptosis induction in vitro and in vivo is initiated by biorecognition of two nanoconjugates at cell surface and crosslinking of receptors without the need for low molecular weight drugs (reviewed in Biomaterials 190-191, 11, 2019). Hydrogels from his laboratory have been in clinical use and HPMA copolymer – anticancer drug conjugates in clinical trials. Second generation of HPMA copolymer-anticancer drug conjugates are in intensive preclinical evaluation.
Jane received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 1986, M.S. in Polymer Materials from Dalian Technical University in 1989, and Ph.D. in Biomedical Polymer Science from Peking University in 2001. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Institute Curie in Paris, France, Jane joined our lab in 2003. Jane has been working on biomaterials and drug delivery over 30 years, from injectable biodegradable (polyesters i.e. PLA-b-PGA) vaccine-delivery microspheres to new constructs of antibody-drug conjugates, in particular N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA)-based bioconjugates. This design integrates the high specificity of antibody-drug conjugates with advantages of macromolecular therapeutics. Jane’s research interests focus on development of innovative therapeutics for cancer treatment and preclinical translation. Currently, our lab is cooperating with Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory, National Cancer Institute on the evaluation of our new platform technology, a combined chemo-immunotherapy, which will significantly improve immunotherapy response rate and minimize potential immune-related adverse events.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Md Hasan Al Faruque
Email: hasan.faruque@utah.edu
Hasan received his DVM and M.S. in Theriogenology in 2003 and 2005, respectively, both from Bangladesh Agricultural University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Science in 2017 from the Kyungpook National University in Korea. His postdoctoral studies were done at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Korea (DGIST, 2017-2020). From 2021-2022, he was staff (researcher) in DGIST. His research focused on extracellular vesicles and nanoparticle-based drug delivery in cancer. He will focus on two major directions in our lab, combination chemotherapy and immune therapy and drug-free macromolecular therapeutics.
Graduate Students
Jiahui (Alex) Li
Email: Jiahui.Li@pharm.utah.edu
Jiahui received her B.S. in biology and biochemistry from the University of Nebraska in 2017 and her PharmD degree in 2022 at the University of Utah. Since 2021, she is a PharmD/Ph.D. student in our laboratory. Her research focuses on drug-free macromolecular therapeutics and on the evaluation of tumor microenvironment during combination chemo- and immunotherapy with macromolecular therapeutics.
Shannuo Li
Email: u1414449@umail.utah.edu
Shannuo is joining our lab as a new graduate student. She received her B.S. in Pharmacy in 2020 from Guangzhou Medical University, China and her M.S. in Drug Discovery and Development in 2022 from the Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research will focus on combination chemotherapy and immunotherapy with macromolecular therapeutics. She was awarded a two-year Curci Foundation Fellowship.
Visiting Students
Sára Pytlíková
Sára is a visiting Ph.D. student from the Department of Biomedical Polymers, Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Prague. She received her M.S. degree from the University of Chemical Technology in Prague in 2020.
In our lab, her research focuses on the synthesis of macromolecular therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Staff
Monika Sima
Senior Lab Specialist was educated and worked in Europe (Czech Republic, Germany). She was a lab member from 2001 to 2013. She will participate in the design, synthesis and in vitro and in vivo evaluation of nanomedicines. Welcome back, Monika!
BS/MS Students
Isaac Kendell
Email: u0916614@utah.edu
Isaac is a BS/MS student in Biomedical Engineering. His research focuses on T cell exhaustion and remediation in multi-antigen T cell hybridization (MATCH), a new technology developed in our laboratory.
Lara Schlickmann
Email: u1396536@utah.edu
Lara is a BS student in Biomedical Engineering who joined our lab in 2024.
High-School Students
Sophie Hu-Lieskovan
Email: sophiehufeiyu@gmail.com
In 2023 we welcomed Sophie Hu-Lieskovan from Rowland Hall St. Marks High School.
Ivan Wang
Email: ivanwang@rowlandhall.org
In 2023 we welcomed Ivan Wang from Rowland Hall St. Marks High School.
Professor Emerita
Pavla Kopečková
Email: Pavla.Kopeckova@utah.edu
Pavla retired in March 2011. She was appointed Research Professor Emerita. She is still involved in Kopecek group research life, attending group meetings, reviewing reports, proposals, and manuscripts.