Hsian-Rong Tseng, Ph.D.

Tseng has built a series of nanotechnology and microfluidics-based platforms that enable researchers and physicians to detect, isolate and characterize circulating tumor cells and tumor-derived extracellular vesicles in the blood of patients with cancer. The technologies he is developing can one day become powerful tools in disease diagnosis, prognostic prediction and dynamic monitoring of therapeutic response. These advances would pave the way for personalized medical care, enhancing clinical management of cancer and improving screening for pregnancy complications.  

He seeks to address unmet needs and challenges in oncology through the provision of distinctive diagnostic solutions that offer cancer patients and physicians a clearer path to treatment. He is now collaborating with pathology and oncology programs at both UCLA and medical centers throughout the United States to take the steps necessary to bring these innovative approaches to the clinic. 

Tseng also works to create nanoparticle delivery systems aimed at making gene therapies and gene editing systems like CRISPR/Cas9 safer, faster and more effective. He developed a self-assembled nanoparticle approach for preparation of a new category of nanoparticle vectors, called supramolecular nanoparticles, for potential utilities as molecular diagnostics, therapeutics and theranostics for cancer. Leveraging a supramolecular nanosubstrate-mediated delivery system, Tseng found that CRISPR/Cas9 can be applied to knock in a therapeutic gene at a designated site in the genome, offering a general therapeutic solution for treating hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease.