Browse School of Engineering | Stanford Profiles

BioAnja Redecker attended medical school in Germany (RWTH Aachen). For her doctoral thesis - under the guidance of Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Lüscher – she studied the functions of a protein called ASH2L, which plays a role in tumorigenesis. She analyzed the effects of ASH2L domain deletion mutants on cell growth and histone trimethylation as well as targeted ASH2L fused to dCas9 to specific promoters and examined its effects on transcription activation.

Her current research in the Swartz Lab at Stanford University focusses on engineering Hepatitis B core virus-like particles (HBc VLP) for targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics and for vaccines. The envisioned targeting delivery system allows loading the HBc VLPs with chemotherapeutics and attaching targeting ligands like single chain antibody fragments to the HBc VLP surface. This would increase targeted accumulation of the chemotherapeutic at the tumor site and decrease therapy-limiting side effects by minimizing off-target effects. To combat any new pandemic efficiently, vaccines need to be engineered and produced quickly. This fast response can be made possible by using pre-produced HBc VLPs to which the antigen of the new circulating pathogen can be attached. This technology has the potential to curb the outbreak of a new pandemic.