Co-Founding Scientist
& Chief Technology Officer
Elucida Oncology, Inc.
Princeton, NJ USA (since 2014)
Visiting Scientist
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY USA (since 2017)
Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering (2015)
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY USA
Mentored by Spencer T. Olin Professor of Engineering Prof. Ulrich Wiesner
B.S. in Applied Physics (2009)
Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Mentored by Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences Prof. Shuhong Yu
Biomedical Materials
Molecular Self-Assembly
Clinical Translation
Here is a video about the work that we have just published in Nature, the discovery of a dodecahedral silica cage.
Several silica-based organic-inorganic hybrid nanomedicine products (C' dots) developed by me and our team at Cornell University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Elucida Oncology Inc. are currently being used in multiple Phase 1 and Phase 2 human clinical trials for cancer treatment and diagnosis. Please also visit Elucida Oncology Inc. for more details.
In this work, we observed the formation of a previously unknown set of ultrasmall silica structures in aqueous solutions. Results provide insights into synergies between deformable noncovalent organic molecule assemblies and covalent inorganic network formation as well as early transformation pathways from spherical soft materials into 1D, 2D, and 3D silica solution structures, hallmarks of mesoporous silica materials formation. This work was selected as the Cover Story of J. Am. Chem. Soc.
K. Ma, K. A. Spoth, Y. Cong, D. Zhang, T. Aubert, M. Z. Turker, L. F. Kourkoutis, E. Mendes, U. Wiesner, Early Formation Pathways of Surfactant Micelle Directed Ultrasmall Silica Ring and Cage Structures, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 140, 17343–17348 (2018). DOI
We were able to covalently attach antibody fragment to C’ dot, while the overall C' dot size remains around 7nm allowing C’ dots for efficient renal clearance. This integration of C’ dot and targeting fragment combine the advantages of both platforms, i.e. the unique pharmacokinetics profile of the powerful C’ dots and the high cancer targeting efficacy of antibody fragment. It opens a door to weapon C’ dots with biomolecular complexes for the more advanced cancer theranostics.
F. Chen*, K. Ma*, B. Madajewski, L. Zhuang, L. Zhang, K. Rickert, M. Marelli, B. Yoo, M. Turker, M. Overholtzer, T. Quinn, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, A. Tuesca, M. Bowen, L. Norton, J. Subramony, U. Wiesner, M. Bradbury, Ultrasmall Targeted Nanoparticles with Engineered Antibody Fragments for Imaging Detection of HER2-overexpressing Breast Cancer, Nat. Comm., 9, 4141 (2018). DOI
We discovered a previously unseen ultrasmall silica structure, i.e. a dodecahedral cage, which is the highest symmetry structure of the five Platonic solids known since antiquity and extensively studied by the ancient Greeks. This highly-symmetric structure was discovered by the 3D reconstructions from tens of thousands of electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) images. It is the first time that this single-particle 3D reconstruction technique is successfully applied to reveal the structure of an inorganic nanoparticle.
K. Ma, Y. Gong, T. Aubert, M. Turker, T. Kao, P. Doerschuk, U. B. Wiesner, Surfactant Micelle Self-assembly Directed Highly Symmetric Ultrasmall Inorganic Cages, Nature, 558, 577–580 (2018). DOI
We synthesized mesoporous silica particles with dodecagonal tiling, which exhibited a structure that is ordered but not periodic (quasi-crystalline). The particle size could be reduced to so small that each particle could only contain a few tiling units. Thus, this particle platform provided a unique approach to trace the originality of the formation of random tiling quasi-crystal. The analysis results indicated that the birth of random tiling quasi-crystal is likely caused by the size heterogeneity of the fundamental structure building blocks.
Y. Sun*, K. Ma*, T. Kao*, K. A. Spoth, H. Sai, D. Zhang, L. F. Kourkoutis, V. Elser, U. Wiesner, Formation Pathways of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Dodecagonal Tiling, Nat. Comm., 8, 252 (2017). DOI
We discovered that ultramsall orgainc-inorgain hybrid silica particles can introduce a class of programmed cell death, so called ferroptosis, in starved cancer cells and cancer-bearing mice. This specific cell death pathway is triggered via the delivery of a considerable amount of ions into the cells by the silica matrix of the particles. The results indicate that cancer-targeting ultrasmall silica particles can deliver treatment effect specifically to cancer cells even without any conventional chemotherapy.
S. E. Kim, L. Zhang, K. Ma, M. Riegman, F. Chen, I. Ingold, M. Conrad, M. Z. Turker, M. Gao, X. Jiang, S. Monette, M. Pauliah, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, T. Quinn, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, M. Overholtzer, Ultrasmall Nanoparticles Induce Ferroptosis in Nutrient-Deprived Cancer Cells and Suppress Tumour Growth, Nat. Nanotechnol., 11, 977–985 (2016). DOI
* Equal Contribution
T. Aubert*, K. Ma*, K. Tan, U. Wiesner, Two-Dimensional Superstructures of Silica Cages, Adv. Mater., 32, 1908362 (2020).
F. Chen*, B. Madajewski*, K. Ma*, D. K. Zanoni, H. Stambuk, M. Pauliah, M. Z. Turker, S. Monette, L. Zhang, B. Yoo, P. Chen, R. J. C. Meester, S. D. Jonge, T. P. Quinn, M. Gonen, S. Sequeira, E. D. Stanchina, J. D. Wolchok, P. Zanzonico, U. Wiesner, S. G. Patel, M. S. Bradbury, Molecular Phenotyping and Image-Guided Surgical Treatment of Melanoma Using Spectrally-distinct Ultrasmall Core-Shell Silica Nanoparticles, Science Advances, 5 (2019), doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax5208.
K. Ma, Y. Gong, T. Aubert, M. Turker, T. Kao, P. Doerschuk, U. B. Wiesner, Surfactant Micelle Self-assembly Directed Highly Symmetric Ultrasmall Inorganic Cages, Nature, 558, 577–580 (2018).
F. Chen*, K. Ma*, B. Madajewski, L. Zhuang, L. Zhang, K. Rickert, M. Marelli, B. Yoo, M. Turker, M. Overholtzer, T. Quinn, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, A. Tuesca, M. Bowen, L. Norton, J. Subramony, U. Wiesner, M. Bradbury, Ultrasmall Targeted Nanoparticles with Engineered Antibody Fragments for Imaging Detection of HER2-overexpressing Breast Cancer, Nat. Commun., 9, 4141 (2018).
K. Ma, K. A. Spoth, Y. Cong, D. Zhang, T. Aubert, M. Z. Turker, L. F. Kourkoutis, E. Mendes, U. Wiesner, Early Formation Pathways of Surfactant Micelle Directed Ultrasmall Silica Ring and Cage Structures, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 140, 17343–17348 (2018). (Cover Story)
Y. Sun*, K. Ma*, T. Kao*, K. A. Spoth, H. Sai, D. Zhang, L. F. Kourkoutis, V. Elser, U. Wiesner, Formation Pathways of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Dodecagonal Tiling, Nat. Commun., 8, 252 (2017).
S. E. Kim, L. Zhang, K. Ma, M. Riegman, F. Chen, I. Ingold, M. Conrad, M. Z. Turker, M. Gao, X. Jiang, S. Monette, M. Pauliah, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, T. Quinn, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, M. Overholtzer, Ultrasmall Nanoparticles Induce Ferroptosis in Nutrient-Deprived Cancer Cells and Suppress Tumour Growth, Nat. Nanotechnol., 11, 977–985 (2016).
* Equal Contribution
D. K. Zanoni, H. E. Stambuk, B. Madajewski, P. H. Montero, D. Matsuura, K. J. Busam, K. Ma, M. Z. Turker, S. Sequeira, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, S. G. Patel, Use of Ultrasmall Core-Shell Fluorescent Silica Nanoparticles for Image-Guided Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Head and Neck Melanoma: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial, JAMA Netw. Open 4, e211936-e211936 (2021)
J. A. Erstling, J. A. Hinckley, N. Bag, J. Hersh, G. B. Feuer, R. Lee, H. F. Malarkey, F. Yu, K. Ma, B. A. Baird, U. B. Wiesner, Ultrasmall, Bright, and Photostable Fluorescent Core–Shell Aluminosilicate Nanoparticles for Live‐Cell Optical Super‐Resolution Microscopy, Adv. Mater., 33, 2006829 (2021)
B. Madajewski, F. Chen, B. Yoo, M. Z. Turker, K. Ma, L. Zhang, P. M. Chen, R. Juthani, V. Aragon-Sanabria, M. Gonen, C. M. Rudin, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, C. Brennan, Molecular Engineering of Ultrasmall Silica Nanoparticle–Drug Conjugates as Lung Cancer Therapeutics, Clin. Can. Res., 26, 5424–5437 (2020).
T. Aubert, J. Y. Huang, K. Ma, T. Hanrath, U. Wiesner, Porous cage-derived nanomaterial inks for direct and internal three-dimensional printing, Nat. Commun., 11, 1–9 (2020).
T. Aubert*, K. Ma*, K. Tan, U. Wiesner, Two-Dimensional Superstructures of Silica Cages, Adv. Mater., 32, 1908362 (2020).
X. Zhang, F. Chen, M. Z. Turker, K. Ma, P. Zanzonico, F. Gallazzi, M. A. Shah, A. R. Prater, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, M. R. Mcdevitt, T. P. Quinn, Targeted melanoma radiotherapy using ultrasmall 177Lu-labeled α-melanocyte stimulating hormone-functionalized core-shell silica nanoparticles, Biomaterials, 241, 119858 (2020).
A. M. Urbanska, R. Khanin, S. Alidori, S. Wong, B. P. Mello, B. A. Almeida, F. Chen, K. Ma, M. Z. Turker, T. Korontsvit, D. A. Scheinberg, P. B. Zanzonico, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, T. P. Quinn, M. R. Mcdevitt, A Genomic Profile of Local Immunity in the Melanoma Microenvironment Following Treatment with α Particle-Emitting Ultrasmall Silica Nanoparticles, Cancer Biother. Radiopharm., (2020), doi:10.1089/cbr.2019.3150.
R. Juthani, B. Madajewski, B. Yoo, L. Zhang, P.-M. Chen, F. Chen, M. Z. Turker, K. Ma, M. Overholtzer, V. A. Longo, S. Carlin, V. Aragon-Sanabria, J. Huse, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, C. M. Rudin, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, C. W. Brennan, Ultrasmall Core-Shell Silica Nanoparticles for Precision Drug Delivery in a High-Grade Malignant Brain Tumor Model, Clin. Cancer Res., 26, 147–158 (2020).
F. Chen*, B. Madajewski*, K. Ma*, D. K. Zanoni, H. Stambuk, M. Pauliah, M. Z. Turker, S. Monette, L. Zhang, B. Yoo, P. Chen, R. J. C. Meester, S. D. Jonge, T. P. Quinn, M. Gonen, S. Sequeira, E. D. Stanchina, J. D. Wolchok, P. Zanzonico, U. Wiesner, S. G. Patel, M. S. Bradbury, Molecular Phenotyping and Image-Guided Surgical Treatment of Melanoma Using Spectrally-distinct Ultrasmall Core-Shell Silica Nanoparticles, Sci. Adv., 5 (2019), doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax5208.
T. C. Gardinier, F. F. E. Kohle, J. S. Peerless, K. Ma, M. Z. Turker, J. A. Hinckley, Y. G. Yingling, U. Wiesner, High Performance Chromatographic Characterization of Surface Chemical Heterogeneities of Fluorescent Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Core-Shell Silica Nanoparticles, ACS Nano, 13, 1795–1804 (2019).
K. P. Barteau, K. Ma, F. F. E. Kohle, T. C. Gardinier, P. A. Beaucage, R. E. Gillilan, U. B. Wiesner, Quantitative Measure of the Size Dispersity in Ultrasmall Fluorescent Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Core-Shell Silica Nanoparticles by Small-angle X-ray Scattering, Chem. Mater., 2019, 31, 643–657. (Cover Story)
F. Chen*, K. Ma*, L. Zhang, B. Madajewski, M. Z. Turker, F. Gallazzi, K. Cruickshank, X. Zhang, P. Jenjitranant, K. A. Touijer, T. P. Quinn, P. Zanzonico, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, Ultrasmall Renally Clearable Silica Nanoparticles Target Prostate Cancer, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 11, 43879–43887 (2019).
M. Z. Turker, T. C. Gardinier, J. A. Hinckley, C. B. Contreras, F. Woodruff, K. Ma, F. F. E. Kohle, U. B. Wiesner, Inner and Outer Surface Functionalizations of Ultrasmall Fluorescent Silica Nanorings As Shown by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Chem. of Mater., 31, 5519–5528 (2019).
M. Z. Turker, K. Ma, U. Wiesner, Bimodal Morphology Transition Pathway in the Synthesis of Ultrasmall Fluorescent Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles, J. Phys. Chem. C, 123, 9582-9589 (2019).
K. Ma, K. A. Spoth, Y. Cong, D. Zhang, T. Aubert, M. Z. Turker, L. F. Kourkoutis, E. Mendes, U. Wiesner, Early Formation Pathways of Surfactant Micelle Directed Ultrasmall Silica Ring and Cage Structures, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 140, 17343–17348 (2018). (Cover Story)
F. Chen*, K. Ma*, B. Madajewski, L. Zhuang, L. Zhang, K. Rickert, M. Marelli, B. Yoo, M. Turker, M. Overholtzer, T. Quinn, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, A. Tuesca, M. Bowen, L. Norton, J. Subramony, U. Wiesner, M. Bradbury, Ultrasmall Targeted Nanoparticles with Engineered Antibody Fragments for Imaging Detection of HER2-overexpressing Breast Cancer, Nat. Commun., 9, 4141 (2018).
K. Ma, Y. Gong, T. Aubert, M. Turker, T. Kao, P. Doerschuk, U. B. Wiesner, Surfactant Micelle Self-assembly Directed Highly Symmetric Ultrasmall Inorganic Cages, Nature, 558, 577–580 (2018).
F. Chen*, X. Zhang*, K. Ma*, B. Madajewski, M. Benezra, L. Zhang, E. Phillips, M. Z. Turker, F. Gallazzi, M. Overholtzer, M. Pauliah, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, T. Quinn, Melanocortin-1 Receptor-Targeting Ultrasmall Silica Nanoparticles for Dual-Modality Human Melanoma Imaging, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 10, 4379-4393 (2018).
T. Kao, F. Kohle, K. Ma, T. Aubert, A. Andrievsky, U. Wiesner, Fluorescent Silica Nanoparticles with Well-Separated Intensity Distributions from Batch Reactions, Nano Letters, 18, 1305–1310 (2018).
F. Chen*, X. Zhang*, K. Ma*, B. Madajewski, M. Benezra, L. Zhang, E. Phillips, M. Z. Turker, F. Gallazzi, M. Overholtzer, M. Pauliah, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, T. Quinn, Melanocortin-1 Receptor-Targeting Ultrasmall Silica Nanoparticles for Dual-Modality Human Melanoma Imaging, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 10, 4379-4393 (2018).
F. Chen*, K. Ma*, M. Benezra, L. Zhang, S. M. Cheal, E. Phillips, B. Yoo, M. Pauliah, M. Overholtzer, P. Zanzonico, S. Sequeira, M. Gonen, T. Quinn, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, Cancer-Targeting Ultrasmall Silica Nanoparticles for Clinical Translation: Physicochemical Structure and Biological Property Correlations, Chem. Mater., 29, 8766–8779 (2017).
Y. Sun*, K. Ma*, T. Kao*, K. A. Spoth, H. Sai, D. Zhang, L. F. Kourkoutis, V. Elser, U. Wiesner, Formation Pathways of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Dodecagonal Tiling, Nat. Commun., 8, 252 (2017).
K. Ma, U. Wiesner, Modular and Orthogonal Post-PEGylation Surface Modifications by Insertion Enabling Penta-Functional Ultrasmall Organic-Silica Hybrid Nanoparticles, Chem. Mater., 29, 6840–6855 (2017).
F. Chen*, K. Ma*, L. Zhang, B. Madajewski, P. Zanzonico, S. Sequeira, M. Gonen, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, Target-or-Clear Zirconium-89 Labeled Silica Nanoparticles for Enhanced Cancer-Directed Uptake in Melanoma: A Comparison of Radiolabeling Strategies, Chem. Mater., 29, 8269–8281 (2017).
S. Walta, F. D. Lorenzo, K. Ma, U. Wiesner, W. Richtering, S. Seiffert, Diffusion of Rigid Nanoparticles in Crowded Polymer-hydrogel Networks: Dominance of Segmental Density Over Crosslinking Density, Colloid Polym. Sci., 8, 1371–1381 (2017).
B. Yoo, K. Ma, U. Wiesner, and M. Bradbury, Expanding Analytical Tools for Characterizing Ultrasmall Silica-based Nanoparticles, RSC Adv., 7, 16861–16865 (2017).
S. E. Kim, L. Zhang, K. Ma, M. Riegman, F. Chen, I. Ingold, M. Conrad, M. Z. Turker, M. Gao, X. Jiang, S. Monette, M. Pauliah, M. Gonen, P. Zanzonico, T. Quinn, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, M. Overholtzer, Ultrasmall Nanoparticles Induce Ferroptosis in Nutrient-Deprived Cancer Cells and Suppress Tumour Growth, Nat. Nanotechnol., 11, 977–985 (2016).
K. Ma, D. Zhang, Y. Cong, U. Wiesner, Elucidating the Mechanism of Silica Nanoparticle PEGylation Processes Using Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopies, Chem. Mater., 28, 1537–1545 (2016).
B. Yoo, K. Ma, L. Zhang, A. Burns, S. Sequeira, I. Mellinghoff, C. Brennan, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, Ultrasmall Dual-Modality Silica Nanoparticle Drug Conjugates: Design, Synthesis, and Characterization, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 23, 7119–7130 (2015).
K. Ma, C. Mendoza, M. Hanson, U. Werner-Zwanziger, J. Zwanziger, U. Wiesner, Control of Ultrasmall Sub-10 nm Ligand-Functionalized Fluorescent Core–Shell Silica Nanoparticle Growth in Water, Chem. Mater., 27, 4119–4133 (2015).
T. Suteewong, K. Ma, J. E. Drews, U. Werner-Zwanziger, J. Zwanziger, U. Wiesner, M. S. Bradbury, Highly Fluorescent Sub 40-nm Aminated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles, J. Sol-Gel Sci. Technol., 74, 32–38 (2014).
K. Ma, U. Werner-Zwanziger, J. Zwanziger, U. Wiesner, Controlling Growth of Ultrasmall Sub-10 nm Fluorescent Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles, Chem. Mater., 25, 677–691 (2013).
L. Dong, Y. Liu, Y. Lu, L. Zhang, N. Man, L. Cao, K. Ma, D. An, J. Lin, Y.-J. Xu, W.-P. Xu, W.-B. Wu, S.-H. Yu, L.-P. Wen, Tuning Magnetic Property and Autophagic Response for Self-Assembled Ni-Co Alloy Nanocrystals, Adv. Funct. Mater., 23, 5930–5940 (2013).
K. Ma, H. Sai, U. Wiesner, Ultrasmall Sub-10 nm Near-Infrared Fluorescent Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134, 13180–13183 (2012).
K. Ma, H. Li, H. Zhang, X. -L. Xu, M. -G. Gong, Z. Yang, ZnO Micro–Nano Composite Hydrophobic Film Prepared by A Three-Step Method, Chin. Phys. B, 18, 1942–1946 (2009).
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