Research interest

Engineered extracellular vesicles

Exosomes, sub-micron sized vesicles which are naturally released from all cells, play important role in cell-to-cell communication and regulation of numerous physiological processes. Since exosomes contain nucleic acids, lipids and proteins, exosomes have emerged as a cell-free therapeutic agent for treating various pathologies such as inflammatory diseases, liver fibrosis, and cancer. In our group, we focused on the development of engineered exosomes through surface modification to enhance delivery efficiency and therapeutic efficacy.

Science 2020; 367; 640

on-going projects

  • Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles for treatments of inflammatory diseases
  • Modulation of extracellular vesicles  for cancer immunotherapy
  • Surface-engineered extracellular vesicles for skin anti-aging
  • Maintenance of exosome stability in long-term storage using biocompatible polymers

Representative achievements

  • Metabolically engineered stem cell–derived exosomes to regulate macrophage heterogeneity in rheumatoid arthritis Science Advances 2021; 7; eabe0083
  • Bioorthogonally surface‐edited extracellular vesicles based on metabolic glycoengineering for CD44‐mediated targeting of inflammatory diseases Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 2021; 10; e12077
  • Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicle-bearing dermal filler ameliorates the dermis microenvironment by supporting CD301b-expressing macrophages ACS Nano 2022; 16; 251–260
Other Research interest