Draft:Shawn Owen

Shawn Owen is an Associate Professor of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Adjunct Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Utah. . The Owen Lab develops therapies and diagnostics using chemical biology approaches

Education
As a native of Utah, Dr. Owen attended the University of Utah as an undergraduate student from 2000-2005. During his undergraduate education, he double majored and obtained a B.S. in Chemistry with a Biological focus and a B.A. in Chinese. Following his undergraduate studies, he opted to spend another 4 years at the University of Utah for his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (2005-2009). Under Charles B. Grissom (Ph.D.), Owen gained diverse training in pharmaceutics, chemistry, and biomedical engineering while working on targeted drug delivery. . Following his Ph.D., Owen went on to the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto (2009-2013) for his Postdoctoral studies under the guidance of Molly Shoichet FRSC, a distinguished Canadian scientist with a broad skill set in chemistry, biomaterials, and biomedical engineering

Career and Research
After receiving his doctorate degree, Dr. Owen went back to join the University of Utah as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine and as an Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (2014-2022). Currently, his positions include Associate Professor of Molecular Pharmaceutics (2022-present) and Adjunct Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering (2016-present), Medicinal Chemistry (2017-present) at the University of Utah.

The Owen Lab at the University of Utah focuses on developing therapies and diagnostics through chemical biology approaches. Research revolves around utilizing bioconjugation techniques and protein engineering to build new molecules for therapeutic effects such as hybrid molecules. Continued efforts on antibody drug conjugates as well as fused proteins are becoming increasingly important methods to provide a localized effect to better treat a range of diseases. Recent advances in antibody technology have enabled the fusion of antibodies as targeting domains and therapeutic proteins which can be engineered to target different antigens to produce a pharmacological effect.

Antibodies are often used for the delivery of small molecule cytotoxins directly to diseased cells. In antibody-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (ADEPT), antibodies are armed with enzymes that activate nontoxic prodrugs at tumor sites. This has not been effective clinically due to the off-target toxicity of the therapy. The Owen Lab designed an antibody-fragment split enzyme platform that is only active when binding to HER2, allowing for site-specific activation of a small molecule prodrug. They screened for the optimal split enzyme pair and evaluation of this system on HER2-positive cells revealed higher toxicity of the activated prodrug over prodrug treatment alone.

The Owen Lab has also developed an assay to detect antibodies that bind to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Their assay measures the neutralization activity of antibodies from convalescent or vaccinated sera, enabling rapid assessment of the effectiveness of vaccines and level of protection against existing and emerging variants of the virus.

Overall, Dr. Owen's lab has demonstrated the effectiveness of therapeutic fusion proteins against a known clinical target. The exponential emergence of biopharmaceuticals encourages increased research into therapeutic fusion proteins for a multitude of diseases.

Awards and Honors

 * College of Pharmacy, Professional Year Two Teacher of the Year, 2022
 * College of Pharmacy, Distinguished Teacher of the Year, University of Utah, 2016
 * College of Pharmacy, Professional Year One Teacher of the Year, University of Utah, 2016
 * Controlled Release Society T. Nagai Postdoctoral Research Achievement Award, 2013