Dean Ho, professor of oral biology and medicine and co-director of the Jane and Jerry Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology at the UCLA School of Dentistry, has been named a Fulbright Scholar as part of the Core U.S. Scholar program.
As part of the Fulbright grant, Ho will be visiting the National University of Singapore where he will partner with the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore and National University Hospital to implement clinical trials to optimize and personalize combination therapy towards various blood cancers.
In addition, Ho and his colleagues at NUS will also be designing novel drug combinations for applications in oncology and infectious diseases that are simultaneously optimized for efficacy and safety. He will be working with colleagues from other departments, ranging from biomedical engineering to chemistry, to use novel diagnostic devices to monitor patient responses to therapy as his team individualizes multi-drug treatment.
Ho leads one of the preeminent nanodiamond research teams in the world. His group has developed a broad spectrum of nanodiamond-based therapeutic and imaging agents that have markedly improved the preclinical treatment outcomes and drug tolerance for breast, liver, and brain cancers. Ho is currently leading a clinical trial to validate a nanodiamond-embedded biomaterial to enhance root canal therapy outcomes.
In addition to his appointment at the dental school, Ho is a professor of bioengineering and a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and California NanoSystems Institute.