Dr. James Byrne: Culinary Foams and Tiny Creatures Help Create More Precise Cancer Treatment
As an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Iowa, Dr. James Byrne pursues a goal that sounds almost contradictory: making cancer treatment more effective while making it easier on patients.
A physician-scientist and member of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Byrne engineers new materials that deliver therapeutic gases directly to the tissue where they can do the most good.
Two Hats, One Mission
Dr. Byrne's path to medical and scientific impact started early. In elementary school, he developed a passion for science and math that led him to biomedical engineering in college — first through research, and later through clinical work.
Today, he wears both hats as he cares for patients and runs a laboratory. That dual perspective shapes everything his team pursues. Dr. Byrne sees the field of oncology constantly advancing, but there is still progress to be made in treatment.
"We are getting so good at treating patients, at prolonging survival, and at curing far more patients than we ever have before," Dr. Byrne says. "But we're also leaving a lot of patients with harsh side effects from their treatment. We want patients not only cured but not left with terrible side effects for the rest of their lives."
Borrowing from the Barista
The lab's signature technology began with a kitchen tool. Behind the counter at any coffee shop sits a whipping siphon, which uses pressurized gas to create foam on top of a drink. Dr. Byrne's team reverse-engineered that system to accept different gases and stabilize the foam.
Dr. Byrne with a whipping siphon, which he uses to deliver gas-entrapping materials (GeMs) to release therapeutic gases.
The products are gas-entrapping materials, or GeMs — foams, gels, and solids that release therapeutic gases slowly and precisely at a target site. Some resemble Pop Rocks candy, trapping pressurized gas inside a carbohydrate matrix that dissolves on contact.
The first target was a decades-old obstacle in cancer care. Many solid tumors are hypoxic, meaning they contain very little oxygen, and that scarcity makes them resistant to radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. When injected into a tumor, the Byrne lab’s oxygen-loaded GeMs raise oxygen levels locally and improve responses to standard chemotherapy and radiation.
Carbon monoxide, typically poisonous, also proved promising in the right dose and the right place. Researchers made a carbon monoxide foam from hyaluronic acid and silver nanoparticles that healed diabetic skin wounds and pressure ulcers faster than untreated wounds. Related formulations reduced gut inflammation and enhanced immune recognition of pancreatic tumors.
Researchers at the University of Iowa have developed biocompatible materials that raise oxygen levels in solid tumors, potentially making them more responsive to treatment. Molecular gastronomy partially inspired this approach.
That work is close to reaching patients. Dr. Byrne's team hopes to begin a Phase I clinical trial soon, the first clinical test of the platform, where oxygen GeMs are delivered directly into sarcoma tumors.
Lessons from the World's Toughest Animal
The lab's second line of work protects healthy tissue rather than attacking tumors, and it draws inspiration from a creature less than a millimeter long.
Tardigrades, microscopic animals also known as “water bears,” survive radiation doses thousands of times higher than a human can tolerate, thanks in part to a damage-suppressor protein that binds DNA and shields it from radiation-induced breaks. Working with collaborators at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Byrne lab built tiny particles that use mRNA to tell cells to produce the protective protein. The team has targeted the areas of the body most commonly harmed during head-neck and prostate cancers treatment: the lining of the mouth and rectum. In mouse models, the nanoparticles protected healthy tissue while treatment still destroyed the tumor.
This is the lab's method in miniature: look everywhere for ideas. "We take a lot of inspiration from everything that is out there," Dr. Byrne says, "from the local coffee shop to novel materials to tiny animals like tardigrades, which can tolerate these extreme conditions."
Dr. Byrne in his lab at the University of Iowa
Built on Federal Investment
None of Dr. Byrne's basic research would exist without federal support.
"Federal funding is what makes this possible," Dr. Byrne says. "It gives us the protected time to do the research, the resources to pursue high-risk, high-reward projects that push the boundaries of science, and the ability to train the next generation of scientists and physicians who will carry the work forward to improve patient’s lives."
Dr. Byrne’s 2024 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award, a five-year, $1.5 million grant, supports exactly the kind of high-risk, high-reward work that private funders might pass over. Additional support has come from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Department of Defense (DoD), the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), and the American Cancer Society.
Federal funding also helped build his collaboration network. In five years at the University of Iowa, Dr. Byrne has connected with neuroscientists on his own campus and with research teams across the country.
That kind of sustained federal investment is especially important in biomedical research, where promising ideas, careful testing, and clinical translation often unfold over many years.
Advice for the Next Generation
Dr. Byrne credits his trajectory to mentors: Lisa Brannon-Peppas at the University of Texas at Austin, who brought him into her lab as a fledgling undergraduate; Joseph DeSimone at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Giovanni Traverso at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They also taught him how research gets funded simply by letting him observe their process.
His advice comes in two parts. First, do something different. His doctoral mentor taught him that part of the strategy is being different — the unconventional project is often the one that moves a field and helps a new investigator stand out.
Dr. Byrne and Dr. Jianling Bi, a collaborator and fellow researcher at the Carver College of Medicine
Second, do not fear failure. "We fail so often in science. Not every experiment works," he says. "You may not get funded on your first submission, or your first ten. It takes time and honing of skills." He is equally emphatic about teams, noting that modern science is a collective effort that includes not only researchers and physicians, but also the many colleagues who support the work behind the scenes.
Dr. James Byrne's work demonstrates how sustained federal investment in basic scientific research can turn unexpected inspiration into more precise, effective care for patients.