There’s a significant journey ahead in achieving sex and gender equity in medicine, but engineers at The University of New Mexico are taking a bold step forward. They have embarked on a groundbreaking research project aimed at exploring alternative treatments for ovarian cancer, a disease that poses a significant challenge to women’s health worldwide.
Olivia Lanier, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been awarded a sub-award from the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant through the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center. This grant, amounting to $30,000 and running until the end of 2025, will support her pilot project titled, “Targeted Vaginal Delivery of FRα-Specific Lipid Nanoparticles Using Thermo and Enzyme-Responsive Hydrogels for Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer.”
Addressing Historical Gaps in Biomedical Research
Lanier’s research is poised to address a critical gap in biomedical research that has historically favored the male body. “Studying drug delivery based on sex is critical for advancing health equity because women have historically been excluded from biomedical research, creating a medical landscape that favors the traditional male body,” Lanier explains. She highlights the disparity in nanomedicine research, noting that applications for women’s health account for less than 1% of all nanoparticle-related research on PubMed.
By developing targeted therapies that consider female-specific biology, such as hormones, reproductive organs, and mucus barriers, Lanier aims to improve treatment outcomes and ensure healthcare technologies benefit everyone. Her work is particularly focused on ovarian cancer that returns after chemotherapy, which is notoriously difficult to treat.
Innovative Approach to Ovarian Cancer Treatment
While newer drug options like Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx) have shown promise in treating resistant forms of ovarian cancer, they have also been associated with significant ocular side effects in over half of the patients. Lanier’s project seeks to mitigate these side effects by exploring the use of nanoparticles suspended in a hydrogel, administered vaginally, to target ovarian cancer tissue more effectively than systemic delivery methods.
The hydrogel is designed to enhance local retention and release of drug-loaded nanoparticles, minimizing systemic side effects. Lanier’s lab will spend the rest of the year refining this nanoparticle technology and testing it on patient-derived xenograft samples and animal membranes.
Advancing Women’s Healthcare
Lanier’s research is part of a broader initiative within the Nanomedicine Toward Health Equity Lab to advance women’s healthcare and develop new drug delivery options for diseases associated with health disparities. She is particularly interested in how biological differences, such as chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs, impact drug delivery effectiveness.
For instance, the process of developing blood cells, known as vascularization, changes in ovaries and breast tissue throughout the menstrual cycle. This suggests there could be optimal times for delivering targeted treatments for conditions like endometriosis and various cancers. Understanding these differences, not only throughout the menstrual cycle but also through perimenopause, menopause, and post-hysterectomy, offers significant potential to improve treatment options.
Preliminary results from Lanier’s research as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin suggested that sex-based differences may affect how nanoparticles are taken up by cells, informing future studies on targeted delivery.
Institutional Support and Future Prospects
The institutional research grant awarded to UNM aims to increase the number of cancer-related research projects through pilot awards to junior faculty members across the campus. Michelle Ozbun, the Maralyn S. Budke Endowed Professor of Viral Oncology, serves as the primary investigator and program director for the grant. Recipients like Lanier have one year to conduct their pilot projects and produce preliminary results, with the ultimate goal of making the faculty competitive for national research grants.
Throughout her project, Lanier will be mentored by Sarah Adams, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Mara Steinkamp, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at UNM Cancer Center. Their guidance will be crucial as Lanier seeks to refine her innovative approach to treating ovarian cancer and contribute to a more equitable medical landscape.
As Lanier’s research progresses, it holds the promise of not only advancing treatment options for ovarian cancer but also paving the way for more inclusive and effective healthcare solutions for women worldwide.
