Traditional research methods, such as clinical trials and lab tests using human cells, can’t always capture the complexity of real human tumors, which sometimes limits the applicability of findings to actual patients. Dr. Daniel Puleston has developed a groundbreaking platform that keeps donated, tumor-bearing organs alive outside the body, allowing scientists to safely test therapies and observe how they interact with human tissues in real time.

Using this system, his team is examining how front-line cancer immunotherapies like immune checkpoint inhibitors actually move through human tumors and activate immune cells – a process that is incredibly difficult to study in patients.

Dr. Puleston is also testing cutting-edge delivery methods like lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), which are being explored to carry mRNA-based cancer treatments. LNPs are very small, fat-based bubbles that can safely deliver drugs directly into targeted cells. But, how well LNPs work on tumors is not yet known. Dr. Puleston’s revolutionary approach to studying cancer and testing treatments promises to dramatically accelerate drug discovery and time to market approval, offering a clearer, more human view of how cancer therapies really work.

Research Focus

Drug development, living organs, lipid nanoparticles

Projects and Grants

A new approach to cancer drug development through ex situ living organs