Dr Jie Tang’s research addresses a critical challenge in cancer prevention: patients who have undergone surgery or chemotherapy for bowel cancer remain at high risk of recurrence. While cancer vaccines have the potential to train the immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells before they grow back, current vaccines often fail when delivered orally. In the harsh environment of the digestive system, they are broken down before reaching the immune system, making them ineffective.
To overcome this barrier, Dr Tang is developing an oral cancer vaccine using nanotechnology. Her team engineers tiny, pollen-like nanoparticles made from safe materials already used in food and medicine. These nanoparticles protect the vaccine as it travels through the harsh gut environment and ensure it reaches the right immune cells, activating strong protection where cancer most often returns—the gut, liver, and lungs. By training the immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells early, this approach has the potential to stop cancer from coming back.
Dr Tang is now advancing this nanotechnology platform further, investigating its use not only for bowel cancer prevention but also for needle-free vaccines against infectious diseases and even future pandemics.