About

Daniel G. Anderson is the Joseph R. Mares '24 Professor in Chemical Engineering at MIT. He is also associated with the Institute of Medical Engineering and Science. His research focuses on biomedical and biotechnology applications within chemical engineering. As a faculty member, he contributes to the department's efforts in advancing knowledge and innovation in these areas, leveraging his expertise to develop new solutions and technologies.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Materials science
• Immunology
• Nanotechnology
• Computer Science
• Surgery
• Internal medicine
• Biochemistry
• Cell biology
• Biomedical engineering
• Cancer research
• Radiology
• Genetics
• Data science
• Virology
• Pharmacology
• Endocrinology
• Computational biology

Selected publications

• The clinical progress of mRNA vaccines and immunotherapies

  Nature Biotechnology · 2022 · 751 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Immunology
  • Virology
  • Medicine
  DOI

• The NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing program

  Nature · 2021 · 130 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Computational biology

  The move from reading to writing the human genome offers new opportunities to improve human health. The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) Somatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE) Consortium aims to accelerate the development of safer and more-effective methods to edit the genomes of disease-relevant somatic cells in patients, even in tissues that are difficult to reach. Here we discuss the consortium's plans to develop and benchmark approaches to induce and measure genome modifications, and to define downstream functional consequences of genome editing within human cells. Central to this effort is a rigorous and innovative approach that requires validation of the technology through third-party testing in small and large animals. New genome editors, delivery technologies and methods for tracking edited cells in vivo, as well as newly developed animal models and human biological systems, will be assembled-along with validated datasets-into an SCGE Toolkit, which will be disseminated widely to the biomedical research community. We visualize this toolkit-and the knowledge generated by its applications-as a means to accelerate the clinical development of new therapies for a wide range of conditions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A retrievable implant for the long-term encapsulation and survival of therapeutic xenogeneic cells

  Nature Biomedical Engineering · 2020 · 165 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Cell biology
  • Materials science
  • Biomedical engineering
  DOI

• Synergistic lipid compositions for albumin receptor mediated delivery of mRNA to the liver

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 327 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Chemistry
  • Cell biology
  • Biochemistry

  Lipid-like nanoparticles (LNPs) have potential as non-viral delivery systems for mRNA therapies. However, repeated administrations of LNPs may lead to accumulation of delivery materials and associated toxicity. To address this challenge, we have developed biodegradable lipids which improve LNPs clearance and reduce toxicity. We modify the backbone structure of Dlin-MC3-DMA by introducing alkyne and ester groups into the lipid tails. We evaluate the performance of these lipids when co-formulated with other amine containing lipid-like materials. We demonstrate that these formulations synergistically facilitate robust mRNA delivery with improved tolerability after single and repeated administrations. We further identify albumin-associated macropinocytosis and endocytosis as an ApoE-independent LNP cellular uptake pathway in the liver. Separately, the inclusion of alkyne lipids significantly increases membrane fusion to enhance mRNA release, leading to synergistic improvement of mRNA delivery. We believe that the rational design of LNPs with multiple amine-lipids increases the material space for mRNA delivery.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Microgel encapsulated nanoparticles for glucose-responsive insulin delivery

  Biomaterials · 2020 · 59 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Internal medicine
  • Materials science
  • Endocrinology
  DOI

• Magnetic Retrieval of Encapsulated Beta Cell Transplants from Diabetic Mice Using Dual‐Function MRI Visible and Retrievable Microcapsules

  Advanced Materials · 2020 · 18 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Biomedical engineering
  • Nanotechnology

  Encapsulated beta cell transplantation offers a potential cure for a subset of diabetic patients. Once transplanted, beta cell grafts can help to restore glycemic control; however, locating and retrieving cells in the event of graft failure may pose a surgical challenge. Here, a dual-function nanoparticle-loaded hydrogel microcapsule is developed that enables graft retrieval under an applied magnetic field. Additionally, this system facilitates graft localization via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and graft isolation from the immune system. Iron oxide nanoparticles encapsulated within alginate hydrogel capsules containing viable islets are transplanted and the in vitro and in vivo retrieval of capsules containing nanoparticles functionalized with various ligands are compared. Capsules containing islets co-encapsulated with COOH-coated nanoparticles restore normal glycemia in immunocompetent diabetic mice for at least 6 weeks, can be visualized using MRI, and are retrievable in a magnetic field. Application of a magnetic field for 90 s via a magnetically assisted retrieval device facilitates rapid retrieval of up to 94% (±3.1%) of the transplant volume 24 h after surgical implantation. This strategy aids monitoring of cell-capsule locations in vivo, facilitates graft removal at the end of the transplant lifetime, and may be applicable to many encapsulated cell transplant systems.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Engineered PLGA microparticles for long-term, pulsatile release of STING agonist for cancer immunotherapy

  Science Translational Medicine · 2020 · 185 citations

  • Medicine
  • Cancer research
  • Pharmacology

  -glycolic acid (PLGA) particles that remain at the site of injection and release encapsulated STING agonist as a programmable sequence of pulses at predetermined time points that mimic multiple injections over days to weeks. A single intratumoral injection of STING agonist-loaded microparticles triggered potent local and systemic antitumor immune responses, inhibited tumor growth, and prolonged survival as effectively as multiple soluble doses, but with reduced metastasis in several mouse tumor models. STING agonist-loaded microparticles improved the response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy and substantially decreased the tumor recurrence rate from 100 to 25% in mouse models of melanoma when administered during surgical resection. In addition, we demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of STING microparticles on an orthotopic pancreatic cancer model in mice that does not allow multiple intratumoral injections. These findings could directly benefit current STING agonist therapy by decreasing the number of injections, reducing risk of metastasis, and expanding its applicability to hard-to-reach cancers.

  DOI

Recent grants

• Interfering with the macrophage life cycle of atherosclerosis

  NIH · $1.9M · 2017–2021

• SMART BIOELECTRONIC IMPLANTS FOR CONTROLLED DELIVERY OF THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS IN VIVO AND ITS APPLICATION IN LONG-TERM TREATMENT OF HEMOPHILIA A

  NIH · $2.4M · 2022–2026

• NIH Grant F32CA086448

  NIH · $128k

• NIH Grant RC1EB011187

  NIH · $500k · 2011

• Develop combinatorial non-viral and viral CRISPR delivery for lung diseases

  NIH · $2.7M · 2018–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Róbert Langer

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  777 shared

• Matthias Nahrendorf

  Massachusetts General Hospital

  219 shared

• Filip K. Świrski

  Allen Institute for Brain Science

  198 shared

• Yoshiko Iwamoto

  Okayama University

  195 shared

• James E. Dahlman

  The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

  195 shared

• Ralph Weissleder

  Center for Systems Biology

  194 shared

• Omar F. Khan

  177 shared

• Gabriel Courties

  Institute for Regenerative Medicine & Biotherapy

  176 shared

Labs

• MIT ChemEPI

Education

• Ph.D., Chemical Engineering

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1990

• B.S., Chemical Engineering

  University of California, Berkeley

  1985

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