Our laboratory is interested in the design of materials that ‘interface’ with the immune system, in order to (1) create model systems for the study of lymphocyte biology and (2) to develop new immunotherapies that direct the immune system against cancer or infectious diseases.   Examples of designing nanomaterials, and particularly nanoparticles, for immunotherapy applications will be discussed: We have examined different strategies for regulating the entry and trafficking of nanoparticles in cells, exploiting direct membrane interactions and via the use of environment-responsive polymer nanoparticles.  In other work, we have sought to synthesize nanoparticles with surface structures mimicking the composition of viral particles, to direct immune responses elicited by vaccines. Application of these technologies to cancer immunotherapy and vaccines for infectious disease will be discussed.

Prof. Irvine received his bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1995.  He then moved to MIT for his graduate work with Profs. Anne Mayes and Linda G. Griffith in the development of polymer surfaces displaying adhesion peptides with control over nanoscale clustering of these ligands to regulate cell adhesion and migration.  He received his PhD in 2000 in Polymer Science.  As a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Irvine moved from the physical sciences to the life sciences, studying fundamental aspects of T cell recognition in the laboratory of Mark M. Davis at Stanford University from 2000-2002. In 2002 he returned to MIT with a dual appointment in Materials Science & Engineering and Biological Engineering, where he has established a laboratory focused on the development of new materials for immunotherapy, drug delivery, and basic immunological studies.  Prof. Irvine is the recipient of an Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER award, was selected to the Technology Review ‘TR100’ in 2004, and is a Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator.  He currently holds the Eugene Bell Chair in Tissue Engineering at MIT.