Erkki Ruoslahti

Erkki Ruoslahti (b. 16 February 1940 in Imatra, Finland) is a cancer researcher and distinguished professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and an adjunct distinguished professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He moved from Finland to the United States in 1976.

Ruoslahti made seminal contributions to biology of extracellular matrix and its receptors. He discovered fibronectin, an adhesion molecule that helps make up connective tissues. He also introduced the concept of vascular "zip codes," the idea that each tissue bears molecular signatures that can be targeted by affinity ligands, and used in vivo peptide phage display to prove the concept and develop numerous tumor-homing peptides. His group has developed a novel class of cell- and tissue-penetrating peptides that can be used for biological delivery of drugs and nanoparticles to extravascular space in tissues. When exposed at the C-terminus of the peptide, such C-end Rule (CendR, pronounced "sender") peptides bind to neuropilin-1 and cause vascular leakage and tissue penetration. iRGD is a pan-tumor penetrating CendR peptide that can be used for tumor delivery of conjugated and combination delivery of various payloads (drugs or imaging agents, for example).

Awards and honors