Duy Nguyen, PhD

My laboratory is dedicated to investigating the biophysical properties of solid tumor microenvironments. We seek to understand the dynamic interactions among cancer cells, the immune system, and the important role of extracellular mechanics in driving tumor progression.

Associations

• BioEngineering
• Breast Oncology
• Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis
• Cancer Biology & Evolution Program

My laboratory will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, combining principles from engineering and systems biology to develop integrated tools and methodologies for basic cancer research. Specifically, my group will focus on three key objectives: 1) develop 3D ex vivo microtumor models for therapeutic drug screen, 2) investigate the physical science of cancer on immune evasion, drug delivery, and tumor progression, 3) define biophysical stressors that contribute to tumor invasion, metastasis, and dormancy.

• Qdaisat S, Wummer B, Stover BD, Zhang D, McGuiness J, Weidert F, Chardon-Robles J, Grippin A, DeVries A, Zhao C, Marconi C, Karachi A, Xie C, Jobin G, Liu R, Michel S, Ma X, Moor RSF, von Roemeling C, Nguyen DT, Elliott L, Thomas N, Barpujari A, Geffrard H, Campaneria Y, Ogando-Rivas E, Rabideau C, Soni D, Huang J, Carrera-Justiz S, Fredenburg K, Silver NL, Sawyer WG, Rahman M, Ligon JA, Flores CT, Lee JH, Mitchell DA, Castillo P, Mendez-Gomez HR, Sayour EJ. Sensitization of tumours to immunotherapy by boosting early type-I interferon responses enables epitope spreading. Nat Biomed Eng. 2025 Sep.9(9):1437-1452. Pubmedid: 40681861.
• Alonso-Matilla R, Pedro DI, Pepe A, Serrano-Velez J, Dunne M, Nguyen DT, Sawyer WG, Provenzano PP, Odde DJ. Biophysical modeling identifies an optimal hybrid amoeboid-mesenchymal mechanism for maximal T cell migration speeds. bioRxiv. 2025 Nov. Pubmedid: 39026744. Pmcid: PMC11257493.
• Tao H, Chen D, Yang C, Nguyen DT, Abboud G, Liu R, Liu T, Chakraborty A, Hou AY, Petit NA, Abbas M, Davis RW, Zhang J, Von Roemeling C, Gbadamosi MO, Jin L, Gu T, Lin T, Wang P, Pepe A, Pedro DI, Mendez-Gomez HR, Xie C, Karachi A, Weidert F, Jin D, Wang C, Long-James K, Molchan EK, Castillo P, Ligon JA, Ghiaseddin AP, Sayour EJ, Rahman M, Deleyrolle LP, Kim BY, Mitchell DA, Sawyer WG, Huang J. Targeting immune checkpoint LAIR1 with antibody blockade or 3-in-1 CAR T cells enhances antitumor response. J Clin Invest. 2025 Aug.135(16). Pubmedid: 40591413. Pmcid: PMC12352909.
• Nguyen DT, Schaller MA, Terracina KP, Xu X, Pedro DI, Pepe A, Urueña JM, Dupee Z, Diodati N, Smolchek RA, Famiglietti JE, Nguyen NTY, Tushoski-Alemán GW, Cheng K, Chen L, Linn D, Vidimar V, Fatima A, Kwon SW, Sun D, Chen H, Xu H, Long B, Moy LY, Howell BJ, Addona GH, Sawyer WG. Patient-derived colorectal microtumors predict response to anti-PD-1 therapy. Front Immunol. 2025 Aug.16:1640500. Pubmedid: 40873566. Pmcid: PMC12378724.
• Diodati N, Dupee Z, Lima F, Famiglietti J, Smolchek R, Qu G, Goddard Y, Nguyen D, Sawyer G, Phelps E, Mehrad B, Schaller M. 3D Culture Analysis of Cancer Cell Adherence to Ex Vivo Lung Microexplants. Tissue Eng Part C Methods. 2024 Aug.30(8):343-352. Pubmedid: 39078332.
• Nguyen DT, Pedro DI, Pepe A, Rosa JG, Bowman JI, Trachsel L, Golde GR, Suzuki I, Lavrador JM, Nguyen NTY, Kis MA, Smolchek RA, Diodati N, Liu R, Phillpot SR, Webber AR, Castillo P, Sayour EJ, Sumerlin BS, Sawyer WG. Bioconjugation of COL1 protein on liquid-like solid surfaces to study tumor invasion dynamics. Biointerphases. 2023 Mar.18(2):021001. Pubmedid: 36898958. Pmcid: PMC10008099.
• Nguyen DT, Liu R, Ogando-Rivas E, Pepe A, Pedro D, Qdasait S, Nguyen NTY, Lavrador JM, Golde GR, Smolchek RA, Ligon J, Jin L, Tao H, Webber A, Phillpot S, Mitchell DA, Sayour EJ, Huang J, Castillo P, Sawyer WG. Three-Dimensional Bioconjugated Liquid-Like Solid (LLS) Enhance Characterization of Solid Tumor - Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell interactions. bioRxiv. 2023 Feb. Pubmedid: 36865164. Pmcid: PMC9980005.
• Nguyen DT, Liu R, Ogando-Rivas E, Pepe A, Pedro D, Qdaisat S, Nguyen NTY, Lavrador JM, Golde GR, Smolchek RA, Ligon J, Jin L, Tao H, Webber A, Phillpot S, Mitchell DA, Sayour EJ, Huang J, Castillo P, Gregory Sawyer W. Bioconjugated liquid-like solid enhances characterization of solid tumor - chimeric antigen receptor T cell interactions. Acta Biomater. 2023 Dec.172:466-479. Pubmedid: 37788737.
• Nguyen DT, Famiglietti JE, Smolchek RA, Dupee Z, Diodati N, Pedro DI, Urueña JM, Schaller MA, Sawyer WG. 3D In Vitro Platform for Cell and Explant Culture in Liquid-like Solids. Cells. 2022 Mar.11(6). Pubmedid: 35326418. Pmcid: PMC8946834.
• Nguyen DT, Ogando-Rivas E, Liu R, Wang T, Rubin J, Jin L, Tao H, Sawyer WW, Mendez-Gomez HR, Cascio M, Mitchell DA, Huang J, Sawyer WG, Sayour EJ, Castillo P. CAR T Cell Locomotion in Solid Tumor Microenvironment. Cells. 2022 Jun.11(12). Pubmedid: 35741103. Pmcid: PMC9221866.
• Schaller MA, Sharma Y, Dupee Z, Nguyen D, Urueña J, Smolchek R, Loeb JC, Machuca TN, Lednicky JA, Odde DJ, Campbell RF, Sawyer WG, Mehrad B. Ex vivo SARS-CoV-2 infection of human lung reveals heterogeneous host defense and therapeutic responses. JCI Insight. 2021 Sep.6(18). Pubmedid: 34357881. Pmcid: PMC8492301.
• Pedro DI, Nguyen DT, Rosa JG, Diodati N, Kim J, Bowman JI, Olson RA, Uruena JM, Sumerlin BS, Sawyer WG. Gel-Forming Mucin Improves Lubricity Across Model Gemini Epithelial Cell Interfaces. Tribol Lett. 2021 Oct.69.
• Pedro DI, Nguyen DT, Trachsel L, Rosa JG, Chu B, Eikenberry S, Sumerlin BS, Sawyer WG. Superficial Modulus, Water-Content, and Mesh-Size at Hydrogel Surfaces. Tribol Lett. 2021 Nov.69.

• Title: Lab Studies Using in Vitro 3D Model
  Award Number: 23VA012
  Sponsor: MERCK & CO., INC.
  Sawyer, W. (PD/PI), George, E. (Co-PD/PI), Nguyen, D. (Co-PD/PI)