Obdulia Covarrubias, PhD

Professional Background

Dr. Covarrubias earned a B.Sc in Biochemistry and Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from Kansas State University, in Manhattan Kansas. Dr. Covarrubias was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship during her first year as a graduate student, and this fellowship provided funding for the last 3 years of her Ph.D. studies. Dr. Covarrubias joined Dr. Bossmann’s lab at the University of Kansas as a postdoctoral fellow in 2021, and she assisted with the lab relocation and startup. Dr. Covarrubias also serves as the Technical Director of the Preclinical Imaging Shared Resource (PISR) core facility at KUMC.

• AA, Chemistry & Mathematics, Seward County Community College, Liberal, KS
• BS, Biochemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
• PhD, Chemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
• Post Doctoral Fellowship, Biological Chemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
• Post Doctoral Fellowship, Cancer Biology, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS

• American Association for Cancer Research, Member, 2022 - Present
• American Chemical Society, Member, 2018 - Present

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Research

Overview

The overall goal of our research is to develop novel nanotechnology for early detection of cancer and treatments. Nanobiosensors were developed for protease activity measurements that serve as cancer biomarkers for an early detection of solid tumor (ovarian, pancreatic, lung, and triple negative breast cancer) by means of liquid biopsies (serum samples). Also, polymer and peptide based nanodelivery systems have been developed for drug delivery of small molecules and genetic information for cancer and non-cancer treatment approaches.

• Design of a Novel Nanocarrier Technology to Drug-Load CAR T cells, NIH/NCI
• Role of alcohol adapted Kupffer cells in the progression and resolution of ALD , NIH

• Challapalli RS, Hong C, Sorushanova A, Covarrubias-Zambrano O, Mullen N, Feely S, Covarrubias J, Varghese SN, Hantel C, Owens P, O'Halloran M, Prakash P, Bossmann SH, Dennedy MC. 2024. Adrenocortical Cancer Cell uptake of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles.. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
• Dempsey PW, Sandu CM, Gonzalezirias R, Hantula S, Covarrubias-Zambrano O, Bossmann SH, Nagji AS, Veeramachaneni NK, Ermerak NO, Kocakaya D, Lacin T, Yildizeli B, Lilley P, Wen SWC, Nederby L, Hansen TF, Hilberg O. 2024. Description of an activity-based enzyme biosensor for lung cancer detection.. Communications medicine, 4 (1), 37
• Covarrubias-Zambrano O, Shrestha TB, Pyle M, Montes-Gonzalez M, Troyer DL, Bossmann SH. 2020. Development of a Gene Delivery System Composed of a Cell-Penetrating Peptide and a Nontoxic Polymer.. ACS applied bio materials, 3 (11), 7418-7427