Tania Lopez-Silva
Postdoctoral Fellow
National Cancer Institute
Talk Information
Peptide Synthesis and Innovation
16 June 2025, 05:30pm - 05:45pm, in the Pacific Jewel Ballroom
L21 – Peptide Hydrogels Control Neutrophil Extracellular Trap, NET, Formation in vivo with Locoregional Precision
Dr. Tania Lopez-Silva is a postdoctoral fellow in the Chemical Biology Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, NCI, where she specializes in the design of self-assembling peptide biomaterials for regenerative medicine and immunotherapy applications.
Academic Background
Dr. Lopez-Silva earned her B.S. in Chemistry from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. She completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Rice University in 2020, working under the mentorship of Professor Jeffrey Hartgerink. Her doctoral research focused on developing peptide-based hydrogels for tissue regeneration and immune modulation.
Research Focus
At the NCI, Dr. Lopez-Silva's research centers on the development of self-assembling peptide hydrogels that can modulate immune responses and promote tissue regeneration. Her work aims to create biomaterials that interact with the immune system to enhance healing processes and improve therapeutic outcomes in diseases such as cancer and nerve injuries.
Notable Contributions
Dr. Lopez-Silva has significantly advanced the field of biomaterials through her development of peptide hydrogels that facilitate peripheral nerve regeneration and modulate immune responses. Her innovative approaches have led to the creation of materials that can be injected and form structures in situ, promoting healing without the need for additional drugs or cells.
Awards and Honors
In recognition of her outstanding research, Dr. Lopez-Silva received the 2025 Fellows Award for Research Excellence from the National Institutes of Health. She was also honored with the Harry B. Weiser Leadership Award for her contributions to the graduate student community and was a recipient of the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Fellowship during her graduate studies.
Professional Engagements
Beyond her research, Dr. Lopez-Silva actively participates in scientific outreach and mentorship. She has presented her work at various conferences and seminars, contributing to the broader scientific discourse on biomaterials and regenerative medicine. Her commitment to advancing science extends to mentoring emerging scientists in the field.
Through her interdisciplinary research and dedication to scientific advancement, Dr. Tania Lopez-Silva continues to make significant contributions to the development of innovative biomaterials for therapeutic applications.
Neutrophil extracellular traps, NETs, are DNA networks released by neutrophils in response to pathogens and have been associated with certain inflammatory diseases. Controlling NET formation with locoregional specificity in vivo would enable the study of this response in the context of disease and therapy with unprecedented control. We serendipitously discovered that positively charged peptide-gels rapidly induce NET formation in vivo whereas negatively charged gels do not. To our knowledge, the ability to induce NETosis using a gel’s electrostatic charge has not been reported.
Based on these initial observations, we developed a materials platform comprising injectable peptide gels that can be implanted into tissue to provide site-specific anatomical control over NET formation. Further, microscale locoregional control of NET formation directly within a single implant can be accomplished by modulating the distribution of charge within the material. This hydrogel platform can also be used to finely tune the degree of NET formation in vivo by employing composites of oppositely charged gels. Thus, this chargebased peptide-material strategy can induce NET formation with locoregional control and precise tunability at a tissue and implant level.