The doctoral dissertation in the field of Applied Physics will be examined at the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology, Kuopio campus and online.
What is the topic of your doctoral research? Why is it important to study the topic?
The topic is virus-like mesoporous silica particles as novel platforms for enhanced immune response. Immunotherapy requires sufficient and controlled immune activation, yet current approaches can be limited by insufficient therapeutic efficacy, poor targeting and a limited range of tumor antigens and adjuvants. Nanomaterials provide an opportunity to combine cargo delivery with intrinsic immunomodulatory functions, VLPSi are promising immune adjuvants and delivery platforms because they have controllable spike length, high surface area, and good biocompatibility.
Although VLPSi have mainly been explored for cancer therapy, their mechanisms of immune activation and potential applications remain insufficiently studied. Understanding how VLPSi structure affect immune-cell interactions and activation is important for potential applications in vaccines and broader immunotherapy.
What are the key findings or observations of your doctoral research?
The study shows that VLPSi with longer, rigid spikes (30 nm) interact more strongly with immune cells and enhance cellular internalization compared with spherical (0 nm) and short spiked (5 nm) particles. Mechanistically, the spiky morphology triggers rapid Piezo1-mediated Ca²⁺ influx, which acts as an upstream regulator of immune signaling.
Proteomic analysis further showed spike length dependent activation of innate immune pathways, including Toll-like receptor, RIG-I-like receptor, MAPK, and NF-κB signaling, with changes in key regulatory proteins such as TRAF6 and PIAS4. In addition, biomimetic 30nm spiked VLPSi can enhance STING-related immune activation and promote M1 macrophage polarization.
Importantly, these structural and mechanistic advantages translated into stronger antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses in mice when VLPSi-30 was used to deliver OVA or rEsxB.
Overall, this thesis provides new insight into how nanoscale morphology can regulate nano–immune interactions and offers a rational strategy for developing next generation vaccine adjuvants and immunotherapeutic delivery systems.
What are the key research methods and materials used in your doctoral research?
My doctoral research has synthesis of nanomaterials, physicochemical characterization, in vitro cellular studies, and in vivo immunological evaluation. Virus-like porous silica nanoparticles (VLPSi) with tunable spike lengths (0, 5, and 30 nm) are synthesized and surface functionalized with PEG and other chemical groups. Their morphology, surface properties, and cargo loading capacity are characterized using TEM, Zeta-potential, HPLC, and thermogravimetric analysis. In vitro, macrophages, microglia, dendritic cells, and T cells are used to evaluate cytotoxicity, cellular uptake, immune activation, and Ca²⁺ influx. The methods include confocal microscopy, proteomics, RT-qPCR, flow cytometry, and Ca²⁺ imaging. In vivo, VLPSi-based nano vaccines are evaluated in mice to assess humoral and cellular immune responses.
The doctoral dissertation of Jiajia Wang, MSc, entitled Virus-like mesoporous silica particles as novel platforms for enhanced immune response will be examined at the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology, Kuopio campus. The opponent will be Professor Camilla Foged, University of Copenhagen, and the custos will be Adjunct Professor Wujun Xu, University of Eastern Finland. Language of the public defence is English.
For further information, please contact:
Jiajia Wang, [email protected]
