Gijung Kwak, PhD

2009 - 2015      B.S., Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, INHA University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.

2015 - 2020      Ph.D., Department of Nano-Bio-Information Technology, Korea University-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KU-KIST) Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

2018 - 2019      Visiting Student Researcher, Department of Bioengineering, College of Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, CA, US.

2020 - 2023      Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Nanomedicine, Wilmer Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, MD, US.

2023 - 2025      Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery and Medicine Institute for Neuroscience Discovery (UM-MIND), School of Medicine, University of Maryland Baltimore, MD, US.

Dr. Kwak was trained in the field of nanomedicine and gene therapy, which requires multidisciplinary expertise across chemical/polymer engineering, biotechnology, pharmacy, and medicine, with over 10 years of experience and has published research results in the field-leading peer-reviewed scientific journals. His primary research has focused on developing drug/nucleic acid delivery systems to transfer therapeutic cargo to target major organs, including the brain, lung, and eyes, and related diseases. Specifically, he has engineered and optimized non-viral nanoparticles consisting of synthetic biodegradable/bioreducible polymers or extracellular vesicles, to provide efficient gene/nucleic acid delivery. In addition to the expertise of carrier materials, he has understood and utilized the various modes of action of nucleic acid cargos, including expression (plasmid DNA and messenger RNA), interference (RNAi-siRNA and miRNA), and gene editing (Cas9 nuclease and guide RNA), to control the target protein expression to bring therapeutic benefits.

Non-viral drug delivery, polymeric nanoparticles, biodegradable/bioreducible polymers, extracellular vesicles, gene/nucleic acid delivery, gene editing.

First Author (*Co-first Author), Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

G. Kwak*, S. D. Jo*, D. Kim, H. Kim, M. G. Kim, K. Kim, I. C. Kwon, and S. H. Kim "Synergistic antitumor effects of combination treatment with metronomic doxorubicin and VEGF-targeting RNAi nanoparticles" Journal of Controlled Release, 2017, 267, 203-213. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.08.015.

G. Kwak, D. Kim, G. Nam, S. Y. Wang, I. Kim, S. H. Kim, I. C. Kwon, and Y. Yeo "Programmed Cell Death Protein Ligand-1 Silencing with Polyethylenimine–Dermatan Sulfate Complex for Dual Inhibition of Melanoma Growth" ACS Nano, 2017, 11 (10), 10135-10146. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b04717.

G. Kwak*, H. Kim*, J. Park, E. H. Kim, H. Jang, G. Han, S. Y. Wang, Y. Yang, I. C. Kwon, and S. H. Kim "A Trojan-Horse Strategy by In Situ Piggybacking onto Endogenous Albumin for Tumor-Specific Neutralization of Oncogenic MicroRNA" ACS Nano, 2021, 15(7), 11369–11384. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c00799.

G. Kwak, J. Cheng, H. Kim, S. Song, S. J. Lee, Y. Yang, J. H. Jeong, J. E. Lee, P. B. Messersmith, and S. H. Kim "Sustained Exosome-Guided Macrophage Polarization Using Hydrolytically Degradable PEG Hydrogels for Cutaneous Wound Healing: Identification of Key Proteins and MiRNAs, and Sustained Release Formulation" Small, 2022, 2200060. DOI: 10.1002/smll.202200060.

K. Negron*, G. Kwak*, H. Wang, H. Li, Y. Huang, S. Chen, B. Tyler, C. G. Eberhart, J. Hanes, and J. S. Suk "A Highly Translatable Dual‐arm Local Delivery Strategy to Achieve Widespread Therapeutic Coverage in Healthy and Tumor‐bearing Brain Tissues" Small, 2023, 2207278. DOI: 10.1002/smll.202207278.

G. Kwak, O. Gololobova, N. Sharma, C. Caine, M. Mazur, K. Mulka, N. E. West, G. M. Solomon, G. R. Cutting, K. W. Witwer, S. M. Rowe, M. Paulaitis, G. Aslanidi, and J. S. Suk "Extracellular vesicle enhances pulmonary transduction of stably associated adeno-associated virus following intratracheal administration" Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 2023, 12, e12324. DOI: 10.1002/jev2.12324.

D. Rao*, G. Kwak*, H. Wang, C. G. Eberhart, J. Hanes, and J. S. Suk "Bioreducible gene delivery platform that promotes intracellular payload release and widespread brain dispersion" ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2023, 9, 8, 4567–4572. DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c00799.

G. Kwak*, D. Lee*, and J. S. Suk, "Advanced approaches to overcome biological barriers in respiratory and systemic routes of administration for enhanced nucleic acid delivery to the lung" Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 2023. DOI: 10.1080/17425247.2023.2282535.

G. Kwak, A. Grewal, H. Slika, G. Mess, H. Li, M. Kwatra, A. Poulopoulos, G. F. Woodworth, C. G. Eberhart, H. Ko, A. Manbachi, J. Caplan, R. J. Price, B. Tyler, and J. S. Suk "Brain Nucleic Acid Delivery and Genome Editing via Focused Ultrasound-Mediated Blood-Brain Barrier Opening and Long-Circulating Nanoparticles" ACS Nano, 2024, 18, 35, 24139–24153. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c05270.

M. Kwarta*, G. Kwak*, H. Li, J. S. Suk, and H.S. Ko. "Polymeric nanoparticle-mediated GBA1 gene therapy in neuroprotective in a preclinical model of Parkinson’s disease" Drug Delivery and Translational Research, 2025. DOI: 10.1007/s13346-025-01944-3.