Summary

Dr. Duxin Sun is  the Charles Walgreen Jr. Professor of Pharmacy and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan. Dr. Sun serves as the Director of Pharmacokinetics (PK) Core. Dr. Sun also has joint appointment in the Chemical Biology program, the Interdisciplinary Medicinal Chemistry program, and University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Sun received broad training in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD), Molecular Biology (visiting scientist), Pharmacology (MS) and Pharmacy (BS). 

Dr. Sun’s research interests focus on drug discovery, nanomedicine and pharmacokinetics. Dr. Sun has published more than 260 papers (H-index 65), mentored 37 PhD students and 70 postdoctoral fellows/visiting scientists. Dr. Sun is a Fellow of American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and has served as chair of the PPB (Physical Pharmacy and Biopharmaceutics) in AAPS. Dr. Sun served on FDA Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmacology Advisory Committee.  Dr. Sun has served on study sections for NIH and FDA. 

Feature Story
Nanoparticles are the future of medicine – researchers are experimenting with new ways to design tiny particle treatments for cancer

When you hear the word “nanomedicine,” it might call to mind scenarios like those in the 1966 movie “Fantastic Voyage.” The film portrays a medical team shrunken down to ride a microscopic robotic ship through a man’s body to clear a blood clot in his brain. Nanomedicine has not reached that level of sophistication yet. Although scientists can generate nanomaterials smaller then several nanometers – the “nano” indicating one-billionth of a meter – today’s nanotechnology has not been able to generate functional electronic robotics tiny enough to inject safely into the bloodstream. But since the concept of nanotechnology was first introduced in the 1970s, it has made its mark in many everyday products, including electronics, fabrics, food, water and air treatment processes, cosmetics and drugs. Given these successes across different fields, many medical researchers were eager to use nanotechnology to diagnose and treat disease. While nanomedicine has seen many successes, some researchers have been disappointed by its underwhelming overall performance in cancer. What are the new ways to develop breakthroughs that allow nanomedicine to live up to its promise.

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Research Interests

  • Drug Discovery, NanoMedicine and Pharmacokinetics 

    1.  NanoMedicine and Drug Delivery for Cancer Immunotherapy

    2.  STAR (Structure-Tissue Exposure/Selectivity-Activity Relationship) Selects Better Drug Candidates and Balances Clinical Dose/Efficacy/Safety

    3.  Virus Spike Mimicry NanoVaccine to Activate B cell Immunity For Cancer Immunotherapy and Neutralizing Bacterial Toxin

    4.  Intubation and Wireless Sampling Device in Human GI Track For Microbiome Analysis and Drug Product Optimization

Selected Publications