Gene therapy lab focuses on the development of oncolytic adenovirus, which selectively kills cancer cells, as the baseline platform for the development of various smart adenovirus vector systems. Gene therapy lab has 3 independent yet highly collaborative team that focuses on following subject; 1) oncolytic adenovirus team (Genetic modulation of oncolytic adenovirus; insertion of therapeutic genes and other genetic modifications to enhance the cancer specificity of oncolytic adenovirus), 2) immuno oncolytic adenovirus team (exploration of various antitumor immune cytokine-expressing oncolytic adenovirus or the virus in combination with other immunotherapeutics to overcome immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment), and 3) oncolytic adenovirus-nanomaterial hybrid vector team (aims to attenuate side effect associated with systemically administered oncolytic adenovirus through masking of viral capsid with nonimmunogenic nanomaterial, ultimately aiming to treat both primary and distant solid tumors with one therapeutic reagent).

Our lab has developed numerous oncolytic adenoviruses and evaluates their efficacy and safety profile via different techniques. Furthermore, our lab has successfully completed preclinical evaluation of our oncolytic virus by developing various protocols for toxicity profile and clinical evaluation of the virus. One of the oncolytic adenovirus developed by our team has been evaluated in clinical trial and demonstrated that our oncolytic adenovirus can be used in safe manner to elicit potent therapeutic efficacy.

Through the research works mentioned above, we have published over 180 manuscripts on various internationally recognized journals, such as JNCI, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, Molecular Therapy, Angewandte Chemie, Journal of Controlled Release, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, and ACS Nano, while acquiring 28 international patents and 36 domestic patents.

As of 2016, we have been working on developing pancreatic cancer-targeted oncolytic adenovirus for clinical trials with funding from Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning. We aim to develop efficient combination therapy regimen using pancreatic cancer-targeting oncolytic adenovirus with immune checkpoint inhibitors. This regimen has the potential to be evaluated in preclinical phase through cooperation with clinical research organizations. We are aiming to transfer the technology to international cooperation to put this product under clinical evaluation.