Erkki Ruoslahti

Biography

Dr. Rickert earned his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1992. He trained as a postdoctoral fellow at The Institute for Genetics in Cologne, Germany. In 1997, Dr. Rickert was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Rickert was recruited to the Inflammatory and Infectious Disease Center at SBP as an Associate Professor in 2004.

Research Interest

The Ruoslahti laboratory studies peptides that home to specific targets in the body, such as tumors, atherosclerotic plaques and injured tissues. These peptides, which usually bind to receptors in the vessels of the target tissue, can be used to selectively deliver diagnostic probes and drugs to the target. The latest development is the discovery of homing peptides with tumor-penetrating properties. The CendR tissue penetration pathway is a new endocytosis/trans-tissue transport pathway (Pang et al., Nat Comm. 2014). The current focus is on enhancing the effects of coupled and co-injected drugs with the tumor-homing peptides, particularly in mouse models of breast cancer and glioblastoma. This laboratory also studies the receptors for the peptides and the mechanism of their tumor penetration activity.