20th International Symposium on
Recent Advances in Drug Delivery Systems
About RADDS
Welcome to the website of the 20th international symposium on recent advances in drug delivery systems to be held on February 23-26, 2027, on the University of Utah campus. This year’s symposium features internationally recognized speakers as well as poster presentations covering topics on innovations in biomaterials for drug delivery, advances in tumor targeting, immunotherapy, and theranostics, artificial intelligence and machine learning for formulation design, and novel approaches for lipid nanoparticle-mediated gene delivery. This symposium series inaugurated in 1983, is a long standing premier drug delivery conference held in Utah. We invite you to join the symposium, enjoy the scientific presentations, camaraderie, and the beautiful scenery of Salt Lake City and surroundings.
Mingnan Chen
University of Utah
Pad Chivukula
Arcturus Therapeutics
Owen Fenton
UNC Chapel Hill
Wei Gao
California Institute of Technology
David Grainger
University of Utah
Piotr Grodzinski
National Institute of Health
Rainer Haag
Free University of Berlin
Sarah Hedtrich
University of British Columbia
Inge Herrmann
ETH Zurich
Quanyin Hu
University of Wisconsin
Zeinab Jahed
UC San Diego
Allison Keeler
UMass Amherst
Markita Landry
UC Berkeley
Yeh-Hsing Lao
University at Buffalo
Roger Luo
Purdue University
Ronit Mazor
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
KC Mei
University of Utah
Lutz Nuhn
University of Würzburg
Jae-Hyung Park
Sungkyunkwan University
Karthik Raman
Persist AI
Kannan Rangaramanujam
Johns Hopkins University
Steve Roffler
Academia Sinica
Gaurav Sahay
University of Oregon
Ronit Satchi-Fainaro
Tel Aviv University
Dmitri Simberg
University of Colorado
Molly Stevens
Oxford University
Hannah Zierden
University of Maryland
Abstract Submission and Registration
Abstract submission deadline is January 15, 2027.
Click here to download the abstract template. The abstracts should be sent to RADDS@pharm.utah.edu by January 15, 2027.
Registration information:
Early registration by January 22, 2027
Student/Postdoc $200 | Faculty $400 | Industry $600
Late registration by February 12, 2027
Student/Postdoc $250 | Faculty $500 | Industry $700
International Advisory Board
Kristy Ainslie | University of North Carolina | Chapel Hill, North Carolina USA
Khuloud Al-Jamal | Hong Kong University | Hong Kong
Christine Allen | University of Toronto | Toronto, Canada
Paolo Caliceti | University of Padua | Padua, Italy
Xiaoyuan Chen | National University of Singapore | Singapore
Stefaan De Smedt | Ghent University | Gent, Belgium
Tejal Desai | Brown University | Providence, Rhode Island USA
Tomáš Etrych | Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry | Prague, Czech Republic
Elias Fattal | Paris-Saclay University | Chatenay Malabry, France
Zhen Gu | Zhejiang University College | Hangzhou, China
Alexander Kabanov | University of North Carolina | Chapel Hill, North Carolina USA
Kazunori Kataoka | Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion | Kawasaki, Japan
Glen Kwon | University of Wisconsin | Madison, Wisconsin USA
Ick Chan Kwon | Korea Institute of Science and Technology | Seoul, Republic of Korea
Twan Lammers | RWTH Aachen University Medical Faculty | Aachen, Germany
Claus-Michael Lehr | Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland & Saarland University | Saarbrucken, Germany
Kam Leong | Columbia University | New York, New York USA
Jean-Christophe Leroux | Federal Institute of Technology | Zurich, Switzerland
Olivia Merkel | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität | München, Germany
Tamara Minko | Rutgers University | New Brunswick, New Jersey USA
Samir Mitragotri | Harvard University | Boston, Massachusetts USA
Vladimir Muzykantov | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
Yu-Kyoung Oh | Seoul National University | Seoul, Republic of Korea
Vandana Patravale | Institute of Chemical Technology | Mumbai, India
Amirali Popat | The University of Queensland | Woolloongabba, Australia
Suzie Pun | University of Washington | Seattle, Washington USA
Aliasger Salem | The University of Iowa | Iowa City, Iowa USA
Rana Sanyal | Bogazici University | Istanbul, Türkiye
Ronit Satchi-Fainaro | Tel Aviv University | Tel Aviv, Israel
Dmitri Simberg | University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus | Aurora, Colorado USA
Patrick Stayton | University of Washington | Seattle, Washington USA
Nicole Steinmetz | University of California San Diego | San Diego, California USA
Molly Stevens | University of Oxford | Oxford, United Kingdom
Xun Sun | West China School of Pharmacy | Chengdu, China
María Vicent | Principe Felipe | Valencia, Spain
Yoon Yeo | Purdue University | Lafayette, Indiana USA
Zhiyuan Zhong | Soochow University | Suzhou, China
Organizing Committee
Hamid Ghandehari | University of Utah | Symposium Chair
Taslim Al-Hilal | University of Utah
Minghan Chen | University of Utah
Shreya Goel | University of Utah
Shawn Owen | University of Utah
Kuo Ching Mei | University of Utah
Nitish Khurana | University of Utah
Cansu Ümran Tunç | University of Utah
Preliminary Conference Agenda
Agenda is subject to change
| Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | ||
Times TBD | Optional Ski Outing (more details coming) | Brighton Ski Resort |
| 4:30 – 7:00 PM | Onsite Registration | Granite Balllroom Lobby |
6 PM | WELCOME RECEPTION | Granite Ballroom |
| Wednesday, February 24, 2027 | ||
7 AM | REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST | Douglas Ballroom Lobby |
8 – 8:15 AM | WELCOME REMARKS | Douglas Ballroom |
8:15 – 9:00 AM | PLENARY LECTURE | Douglas Ballroom |
8:15 – 11:30 AM | SESSION 1 | |
11:30 AM – 1:30 PM | SESSION 2 POSTER SESSION AND LUNCH | Granite Ballroom |
1:30 – 3:00 PM | SESSION 3 | Douglas Ballroom |
| 3:00 – 3:30 PM | COFFEE BREAK | |
3:30 – 5:00 PM | SESSION 4 | Granite Ballroom |
2:30 – 5 PM | SESSION IV Moderators: Hagar Labouta, Nobuhiro Nishiyama | Douglas Ballroom |
2:30 PM | A Futuristic (or not so?) Approach for Assessing Nanoparticles Immunotoxicity Marina Dobrovolskaia, Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research | |
3 PM | Controlling Timing and Location in Vaccine Delivery Darrell J. Irvine, Scripps Research | |
3:30 PM | Engineering Tolerance: Acetalated Dextran Microparticles in the Generation of B-regs and T-regs Kristy Ainslie, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill | |
4 PM | Nanomedicine Hitchhiking with Immune Cells in Cancer and Inflammation Alexandros Marios Sofias, RWTH Aachen University Hospital | |
4:30 PM | Harnessing possibilities: Extracellular Vesicles as the Upcoming Breakthrough in Treatment Approaches In-San Kim, Korea Institute Science & Technology | |
| Thursday, February 25, 2027 | ||
7 AM | REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST | Douglas Ballroom Lobby |
8 – 10 AM | SESSION V Moderators: Yue Lu, Kam Leong | Douglas Ballroom |
8 AM | Multiscale Engineering of Immune Cells Using Organoids and Nanowires Ankur Singh, Georgia Tech and Emory University School of Medicine | |
8:30 AM | Engineering Extracellular Vesicles as Nanotherapeutics for Cardiovascular Disease Eun Ji Chung, University of Southern California | |
9 AM | Lipid Nanoparticle-Based mRNA Delivery for Retinal Therapies Katrien Remaut, Ghent University | |
9:30 AM | Sticky Solutions: Probiotics, Velcro, and Zippers in Targeted Therapies Juliane Nguyen, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill | |
10 – 10:30 AM | COFFEE BREAK | |
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM | SESSION VI Moderators: Olivia Merkel, Ronald Siegel | Douglas Ballroom |
10:30 AM | Peptide-based Nanomaterials for Precision Medicine in the Injured Brain Ester Kwon, University of California San Diego | |
11 AM | Bioengineering Models to Study Cell-specific Durotaxis in Fibrotic and Lung Diseases Taslim Al-Hilal, University of Utah | |
11:30 AM | Using Microfluidics to Drive Innovation in Nanomedicine Hagar Labouta, University of Toronto | |
12 PM | Engineering and Controlling Biohybrid and Bioinspired Microrobots for Magnetically Enhanced Drug Delivery Simone Schuerle, ETH Zürich | |
12:30 – 1:30 PM | LUNCH | |
1:30 – 2:45 PM | SESSION VII: Poster Session & Coffee | Granite Ballroom |
2:45 – 4:45 PM | SESSION VIII Moderators: Naama Geva-Zatorsky, Mingnan Chen | Douglas Ballroom |
2:45 PM | Vascular Drug Delivery: Fortuitous Homing vs Cognizant Targeting Vladimir R. Muzykantov, University of Pennsylvania | |
3:15 PM | Building Hybrid Biologics for Therapeutics and Diagnostics Shawn Owen, University of Utah | |
3:45 PM | Bioengineering Cell-Based Therapeutics From Benchside to Bedside Omid Veiseh, Rice University | |
4:15 PM | Prodrug/Enzyme Intranasal Delivery for Rapid Prevention or Reversal of Seizure Emergency Ronald A. Siegel, University of Minnesota | |
7 PM | BANQUET | Granite Ballroom |
| Friday, February 26, 2027 | ||
8 AM | BREAKFAST | |
9 AM – 12 PM | SESSION IX Moderators: Adam Gormley, Shreya Goel | Douglas Ballroom |
9 AM | Drug Delivery Across Biological Barriers to Combat Bacterial Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Claus-Michael Lehr, Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland & Saarland University | |
9:30 AM | Functional Plasticity in Microbiota-Host Interactions Naama Geva-Zatorsky, Technion- Israel Institute of Technology | |
10 AM | Core-shell Design of Nanomedicine for Targeted Delivery of Biopharmaceuticals Nobuhiro Nishiyama, Tokyo Institute of Technology | |
10:30 AM | Anticipating a New Wave of HPMA-Based Copolymer-drug Conjugates: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives in Cancer Therapy Jiyuan (Jane) Yang, University of Utah | |
11 AM | Awards for Posters and Presentations | |
11:30 AM | Closing Remarks | |
11:45 AM | LUNCH | |
Sponsors
Conference Venue and Hotel Information
Conference Venue:
University Guest House & Conference Center
110 S. Fort Douglad Boulevard, SLC Utah, 84113
(hotel located on the University of Utah campus, ~20 minutes from airport, ~10 min from downtown)
Method of Reservations:
Reservations for the Event will be made by individual attendees directly at 1(888)416-4075 or (801) 587-1000.
Hotel room cutoff date for the group rate is January 23, 2027. After that date, the hotel will take reservations directly on a space available basis. Please call 1(888)416-4075 or (801) 587-1000.
Additional Hotel options:
*Please note contracted room blocks have not been set up at the Marriott University Park or the Hampton Inn & Suites. Rates and availability will vary.
Marriott University Park
801-581-1000
(~5 minutes from University Guest House)
Hampton Inn & Suites
801-583-3500
(~10 minutes from University Guest House)
Local Information
Ski with RADDS
Join your colleagues from RADDS on an optional ski outing! Included in the cost (TBD) of the outing:
- Lift ticket to Brighton Ski Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon
- Equipment rentals
- Transportation to and from the mountain
If you are interested in skiing with RADDS on Tuesday, February 23, 2027, please indicate your interest in your conference registration, and more information will be provided when it is available.
See you on the slopes!
Visiting Salt Lake City and Utah
Salt Lake City lies in a mountain valley with the Wasatch Mountains to the east and north. The Oquirrh (pronounced “oaker”) Mountains border the western edge of the valley. Salt Lake’s official elevation is 4,330 feet/1,320 meters above sea level. The city is situated on land once covered by the prehistoric Lake Bonneville. This ancient lake existed within portions of Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, with an elevation rising from 4,200 feet to 5,200 feet (1,280 meters to 1,585 meters) at some points. The eastern and northern portions of the city are located on a series of terraces, or former beaches, which are known locally as “the benches.”
- Utah is in the Mountain Time Zone and uses Daylight Savings Time
- City Elevation: 4,330 feet; 1,320 meters
- Nearby Mountains: (Snowbird base) 8,100 feet; 2,469 meters
Things to Do in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake has a way of drawing people who might be called intellectual adventurers. Lovers of art and culture, nature and outdoors. And while there’s no shortage of places to bar hop (hey, no judgments!), we invite you to really get to know Salt Lake – its natural beauty, family-friendly attractions, enriching history, sporting spirit, and some truly “Only in Utah” experiences. Curious? You’ve come to the right place.
Getting around town
Utah is home to The Greatest Snow on Earth® and some of the best ski resorts around. Here you’ll find endless pockets of powder, snowy red rock views, welcoming slope side culture, and the unmatched accessibility of it all. No matter what brings you to ski or ride in Utah, make sure you have enough time to take it all in.
Adjusting to the Higher Altitude in Utah
Adjusting from a low-altitude locale to the higher altitude of Salt Lake, or Park City (7,000+ feet/2000+ meters) may cause some visitors to exhibit some mildly uncomfortable symptoms like these:
- headaches
- dehydration
- body aches (“flu”-like symptoms in the muscles and joints)
How can you adjust comfortably to the higher altitude and avoid or diminish these kinds of symptoms?
First and foremost: Drink plenty of water! Utah’s water—right from the faucet—is clean, pure, healthy, and delightful. You’ll enjoy drinking LOTS of Utah water! Keeping your body hydrated is very important because high altitudes can dehydrate your system. This can be further complicated in arid regions like Utah. AND “jet-lag” can make matters worse! Water assists your body in flushing toxins, which is critical because altitude affects the body’s ability to dispose of carbon dioxide through breathing. Keep drinking water. Remember that if you feel thirsty, you have waited too long to drink.
If possible, on the first day you arrive, REST—and avoid strenuous exercise—to give your body time to adjust. Small and frequent meals of protein and complex carbohydrates can help keep symptoms to a minimum. Drink water BEFORE you feel thirsty!
