Lali K. Medina-Kauwe

Dr. Lali Medina-Kauwe received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from UCLA in 1995 and used her skills in molecular engineering to create the first modified recombinant adenoviral capsid protein as a nonviral gene and drug delivery agent. She has since demonstrated that this agent can deliver imaging and therapeutic cargo to tumors in a missile-like targeted fashion by mimicking an essential ligand internalized by cancer cells; but, like a Trojan Horse, releases tumoricidal attack once past the cell barrier. Her technologies have led to several issued and pending patents related to nanobiologic targeting. In 2014, she co-founded Eos Biosciences, a spin-off company that has licensed her technologies for clinical development, while she continues to serve as Scientific Advisor to Eos.

Dr. Medina-Kauwe joined the Cedars-Sinai research faculty in 2003 and has remained continuously funded by the NIH/NCI as well as receiving grant support from the Department of Defense, Komen Foundation, Avon Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. She has served as a scientific reviewer for nearly three-dozen NIH study section panel meetings since 2006, as well as numerous grant review panels for the Department of Defense, and international foundations. She has been an invited conference speaker for the American Chemical Society, the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, Cold Spring Harbor Vector Targeting Strategies, and International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and at other institutions, including University of Washington, Emory University, U Penn, University of Wisconsin - Madison, UCLA, USC School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC Fullerton, and Oregon Health Sciences University.

In 2013, Dr. Medina-Kauwe accepted an appointment as Co-Director of the Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences and Translational Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.