Chicago Immunoengineering Center Aims for COVID-19 Vaccine | UChicago News

The Chicago Immunoengineering Innovation Center has launched at the University of Chicago, with a focus on developing new technologies to treat diseases, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, and, most recently, COVID-19.

Based at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, the new center will catalyze fundamental and translational research in immunology, serving as a hub for engineers, immunologists, biologists and clinicians to collaborate and share resources toward research in immunoengineering. The center opened in February and was the culmination of two years of strategic planning.

Immunoengineering is a fast-growing field that uses engineering analysis and design approaches to understand the basic mechanisms of our immune system and develop technologies to treat complex conditions. Working in partnership with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, UChicago-affiliated Argonne National Laboratory, and the immunoengineering startup community of Chicago, the center will create an ecosystem that brings technologies from the lab to treatment.

“The University of Chicago is emerging as a leader in immunoengineering,” said Matthew Tirrell, dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor. “This new center will bring together the right resources and researchers to not only better understand our immune systems, but to create and launch the innovations that will make a difference to patients.

The center’s current work includes developing a vaccine for the virus that causes coronavirus, and to separately explore new therapeutic approaches for acute respiratory distress syndrome—a common complication experienced by patients with the most severe responses to COVID-19.The center is led by co-directors Jeffrey Hubbell, the Eugene Bell Professor in Tissue Engineering; and Melody Swartz, the William B. Ogden Professor of Molecular Engineering. Read more of the article here.

Source: New immunotherapy center launches to develop technologies to treat diseases | University of Chicago News