Embedded Files
View full publications on Google Scholar
Selected Publications since 2023 (* corresponding author; # equal contribution)
Guo Y, Wang H, Cleveland B, Leung HY, Nguyen DC, Smith JT, Gomez Medellin JE, Stewart GE, Johnson R, Williams LM, Wang X, Qiu P, Mustelin T, Cao S*. Indole-3-propionic acid nano-prodrugs sustain increased lymphoid exposure and alleviate experimental autoimmune arthritis. bioRxiv. 2026.
Guo Y, Johnson R, Cao S*. Programmable long-acting injectable nanomedicines for chronic inflammation. Nano Research. 2026.
Stewart GE, Guo Y, Cao S*. Emerging bacterial membrane vesicles from microbial messengers to therapeutic nanocarriers
Journal of Controlled Release. 2026. 115250.
Wang H, Cao S*. Microbes that chew allergens mitigate anaphylaxis. Cell Host & Microbes. 2026. 34, 548-550.
Beckman TN, Volpatti LR, de Matos SN, Slezak AJ, Reda JW, Weinstock A, Ziolkowski L, Turk A, Budina E, Cao S, Borjas G, Kwon JW, deLeon O, Refvik KC, Lauterbach AL, Gomes S, Chang EB, Hubbell JA*. A prometabolite strategy inhibits cardiometabolic disease in an ApoE–/– murine model of atherosclerosis. JCI Insight. 2025. 10(15):e191090.
Budina E, Reda JW, Cao S, Watkins EA, Solanki A, Nguyen M, Ang P, Medellin JEG, Chun H-R, Foley CR, Berg BTK, Shim H-N, Hultgren K, Khosravi Z, Dhar A, Gomes S, Tremain AC, Ishihara A, Ishihara J, Hubbell JA*. Activity-attenuated serum albumin-fused interleukin-33 suppresses experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Cell Reports Medicine. 2025 (6): 102231.
Medellin JEG, Ung TWM, Wang T, Chang K, Cassano A, Kurtanich T, Reda JW, Shema KE, Stanic N, Slezak AJ, Vuong I, Chen B, Cao S, Alegre ML, Swartz MA, Hubbell JA*. Liver-targeted allergen immunotherapy rapidly and safely induces antigen-specific tolerance to treat allergic airway disease in mice. Science Translational Medicine. 2025 (17): eadl0406
White MJV, Raczy MM, Budina E, Yuba E, Solanki A, Shim HN, Zhang ZJ, Gray LT, Cao S, Alpar AT, Hubbell JA*. Engineering IL-10 and rapamycin to bind collagen leads to improved anti fibrotic efficacy in lung and kidney fibrosis. Scientific Reports. 2025. 15(1):13279.
Sepulveda M, Kwan M, Chen L, Cassano A, Cao S, Wang R, Slezak AJ, Hubbell JA, Nagler CR, Alegre ML*. Delivery of butyrate to the lower gut by polymeric micelles prolongs survival of distal skin allografts. American Journal of Transplantation. 2024. 25(4):695-705.
Williams LM and Cao S*. Harnessing and delivering microbial metabolites as therapeutics via advanced pharmaceutical approaches. Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 2024. 256, 108605.
Cao S*#, Budina E#, Raczy MM, Solanki A, Nguyen M, Beckman TN, Reda JW, Hultgren K, Ang P, Slezak AJ, Hesser LA, Alpar AT, Refvik KC, Shores LS, Pillai I, Wallace RP, Dhar A, Watkins E, Hubbell JA*. A serine-conjugated butyrate prodrug with high oral bioavailability suppresses autoimmune arthritis and neuroinflammation in mice. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2024. 8(5):611-627.
Cao S*, Budina E, Wang R, Sabados M, Mukherjee A, Solanki A, Nguyen M, Hultgren K, Dhar A, Hubbell JA*. Injectable butyrate-prodrug micelles induce long-acting immune modulation and suppress autoimmune arthritis in mice. Journal of Controlled Release, 2024 (372): 281-294.
Cao S*, Maulloo CD, Raczy MM, Sabados M, Slezak AJ, Nguyen M, Solanki A, Wallace RP, Shim HN, Wilson DS, Hubbell JA*. Glycosylation-modified antigens as a tolerance-inducing vaccine platform prevent anaphylaxis in a pre-clinical model of food allergy. Cell Reports Medicine. 2023. 5, 101346.
Wallace RP, Refvik KC, Antane JT, Brünggel K, Tremain AC, Raczy MM, Alpar AT, Nguyen M, Solanki A, Slecak AJ, Watkins EA, Lauterbach AL, Cao S, Wilson DS*, Hubbell JA*. Synthetically mannosylated antigens induce antigen-specific humoral tolerance and reduce anti-drug antibody responses to immunogenic biologics. Cell Reports Medicine. 2023. 5, 101345.
Lauterbach A#, Slezak A#, Wang R, Cao S, Raczy MM, Watkins EA, Jimenez CJM, Hubbell JA*. Mannose-Decorated Co-Polymer Facilitates Controlled Release of Butyrate to Accelerate Chronic Wound Healing. Advanced Healthcare Materials. 2023 (7).
Wang R#, Cao S#, Bashir MEH#, Hesser LA, Su Y, Hong SMC, Thompson A, Culleen E, Sabados M, Dylla NP, Campbell E, Bao R, Nonnecke EB, Bevins CL, Wilson DS, Hubbell JA, Nagler CR. Treatment of peanut allergy and colitis in mice via the intestinal release of butyrate from polymeric micelles. Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2023 (7):38-55.
Commentary: Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2023.
News Report: UChicago News
Selected publications before 2023
Mansurov A, Hosseinchi P, Chang K, Lauterbach A, Gray L, Alpar A, Budina E, Slezak A, Kang S, Cao S, Solanki A, Gomes S, Williford J-M, Swartz MA, Mendoza J, Ishihara J, Hubbell JA*. Engineering Protease-sensitive Interleukin-12 for Cancer Immunotherapy. Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2022. 6(7):819-829.
Cao S, Nagler CR*. Interpreting success or failure of peanut oral immunotherapy. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2022; 132(2);e155255.
Gray LT#, Raczy MM#, Briquez PS#, Marchell TM#, Alpar AR, Wallace RP, Volpatti LR, Sasso MS, Cao S, Nguyen M, Mansurov A, Budina E, Watkins EA, Solanki A, Mitrousis N, Reda JW, Yu SS, Tremain AC, Wang R, Nicolaescu V, Furlong K, Dvorkin S, Manicassamy B, Randall G, Wilson DS, Kwissa M, Swartz MA*, Hubbell JA*. Generation of potent cellular and humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 antigens via conjugation to a polymeric glycol-adjuvant. Biomaterials. 2021; 278:121159.
Maulloo CD, Cao S, Watkins EA, Raczy MM, MacNabb BW, Solanki AS, Nguyen M, Reda JW, Shim HN, Kline JP, Wilson DS, Swartz MA*, Hubbell JA*. Lymph node-targeted synthetically glycosylated antigen leads to antigen-specific immunological tolerance. Frontiers in Immunology. 2021; 3920 (12).
Volpatti LR#, Wallace RP#, Cao S#, Raczy MM#, Wang R#, Gray LT, Alpar AR, Briquez PS, Mitrousis N, Marchell TM, Sasso MS, Nguyen M, Schnorenberg MR, Mansurov A, Budina E, Solanki A, Watkins EA, Tremain AC, Reda JW, Nicolaescu V, Furlong K, Dvorkin S, Randall G, Yu SS, Kwissa M, Swartz MA*, Hubbell JA*. Polymersomes decorated with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain elicit robust humoral and cellular immunity. ACS Central Science. 2021; 7(8); 1368-1380.
Cao S, Slack SD, Levy CN, Hughes SM, Jiang Y, Yogodzinski C, Roychoudhury P, Jerome KR, Schiffer JT, Hladik F, and Woodrow KA*. Hybrid nanocarriers incorporating mechanistically distinct drugs for lymphatic CD4+ T cell activation and HIV latency reversal. Science Advances. 2019; 5 (3), eaav6322.
Cao S, Woodrow KA*. Nanotechnology approaches to eradicating HIV reservoirs. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. 2019;138:46-63.
Cao S, Jiang Y, Zhang H, Kondza N, Woodrow KA*. Core-shell nanoparticles for targeted and combination antiretroviral activity in gut-homing T cells. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine. 2018;14(7):2143-2153.
Cao S, Jiang Y, Levy CN, Hughes SM, Zhang H, Hladik F, and Woodrow KA*. Optimization and comparison of CD4-targeting lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles using different binding ligands. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A. 2018;106(5):1177-1188.
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
1. S Cao, GE Stewart. Bacteria membrane vesicle-coated polymeric nano-prodrug platforms for mucosal delivery and immunomodulation. Filed by University of Washington. #64/150,620
2. S Cao, Guo Y, Wang H. Polymeric Nano-Prodrug Platform for Sustained Lymphoid-Targeted Delivery of Immunomodulatory Gut Microbiome-Derived Metabolites. Filed by University of Washington. #64/118,064
3. JA Hubbell, CR Nagler, S Cao, MH Bashir. Butyrate micelles alter the fecal microbiome and promote recovery of Clostridium Cluster XIVa after antibiotic exposure. Filed by University of Chicago.
4. JA Hubbell, S Cao, MM Raczy, E Watkins, E Budina. Methods and compositions for treating disorders with oral systemically bioavailable butyrate conjugates. US Patent App. 18/556,006
5. JA Hubbell, R Wang, S Cao, CR Nagler, DS Wilson, MH Bashir. Prodrug copolymers and polymeric micelles thereof for the delivery of short-chain fatty acids, the promotion of gut health, and the treatment of immune and/or inflammatory conditions and food allergy. US Patent App. 18/052, 449
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse