Karan Arora

Verified @vanderbilt.edu

Research Assistant Professor
Vanderbilt University

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Organic Synthesis, Polymerization, Immunotherapy, Protease Inhibitor
16

Scopus Publications

449

Scholar Citations

9

Scholar h-index

9

Scholar i10-index

Scopus Publications

  • A molecularly defined polymeric platform for environmentally responsive activation of STING to enhance cancer immunotherapy
    Jacob A. Schulman, Karan Arora, Alexander J. Kwiatkowski, Neil C. Chada, Julia A. Steele, Hayden M. Pagendarm, Megan E. Woodworth, Taylor L. Sheehy, Katherine Gibson-Corley, Justin M. Balko, John T. Wilson
    Biomaterials, 2026
  • Photocontrolled immunotherapy: a BODIPY-caged MSA-2 for spatiotemporal activation of STING with visible light
    Karan Arora, Alexandra E. Lee, Neil C. Chada, Jacob A. Schulman, John T. Wilson
    New Journal of Chemistry, 2026
    A BODIPY-caged MSA-2 enables visible light-controlled STING activation for precise spatiotemporal regulation of immunotherapy.
  • Potentiating cancer immunotherapies with modular albumin-hitchhiking nanobody–STING agonist conjugates
    Blaise R. Kimmel, Karan Arora, Neil C. Chada, Vijaya Bharti, Alexander J. Kwiatkowski, Jonah E. Finkelstein, Ann Hanna, Emily N. Arner, Taylor L. Sheehy, Lucinda E. Pastora, Jinming Yang, Hayden M. Pagendarm, Payton T. Stone, Ebony Hargrove-Wiley, Brandie C. Taylor, Lauren A. Hubert, Barbara M. Fingleton, Katherine N. Gibson-Corley, Jody C. May, John A. McLean, Jeffrey C. Rathmell, Ann Richmond, W. Kimryn Rathmell, Justin M. Balko, John T. Wilson
    Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2025
    The enhancement of antitumour immunity via agonists of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway is limited by pharmacological barriers. Here we show that the covalent conjugation of a STING agonist to anti-albumin nanobodies via site-selective bioconjugation chemistries prolongs the circulation of the agonist in the blood and increases its accumulation in tumour tissue, stimulating innate immune programmes that increased the infiltration of activated natural killer cells and T cells, which potently inhibited the growth of mouse tumours. The technology is modular, as demonstrated by the recombinant integration of a second nanobody domain targeting programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), which further increased the accumulation of the agonist in tumours while blocking immunosuppressive PD-1/PD-L1 interactions. The bivalent nanobody–STING agonist conjugate stimulated robust antigen-specific T-cell responses and long-lasting immunological memory and conferred enhanced therapeutic efficacy. It was also effective as a neoadjuvant treatment to adoptive T-cell therapy. As a modular approach, hitchhiking STING agonists on serum albumin may serve as a broadly applicable strategy for augmenting the potency of systemically administered cancer immunotherapies.
  • Macromolecular Diamidobenzimidazole Conjugates Can Activate Stimulator of Interferon Genes
    Karan Arora, Taylor L. Sheehy, Jacob A. Schulman, Jack R. Loken, Zachary Lehmann, Blaise R. Kimmel, Caitlin McAtee, Vijaya Bharti, Payton T. Stone, Alissa M. Weaver, Matthew Tyska, Rakesh Kumar Pathak, John T. Wilson
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2025
    High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide A promising class of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonists is the non-nucleotide, small molecule, dimeric amidobenzimidazoles (diABZI), which have recently been incorporated into polymer- and antibody-drug conjugates to improve pharmacokinetics and modulate biodistribution for disease-specific applications. These approaches have leveraged diABZI variants functionalized at the 7-position of the benzimidazole for conjugation and tunable drug release from carriers. However, since this position does not interact with STING and is exposed from the binding pocket when bound in an “open lid” configuration, we sought to evaluate the activity of macromolecular diABZI conjugates that lack stimuli-responsive release and are instead conjugated to polymers via a stable amide linker. By synthesizing stable mPEG-diABZI conjugates and N, N -dimethylacrylamide (DMA) homopolymers from a diABZI-functionalized reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) agent, we found that these conjugates could activate STING in vitro with similar kinetics to highly potent diABZI analogues. Our data indicate that although diABZI-DMA conjugates enter cells via endocytosis, they can still colocalize with the ER, suggesting that intracellular trafficking processes can promote the delivery of endocytosed macromolecular diABZI compounds to STING. Furthermore, we demonstrated the in vivo activity of these macromolecular diABZI platforms, which inhibited tumor growth to a similar extent as small molecule variants. In conclusion, we have described new chemical strategies for the synthesis of stable macromolecular diABZI conjugates with unexpected immunostimulatory activity─findings that have potential implications for the design of polymer-diABZI conjugates and further motivate investigation of endosomal and intracellular trafficking as an alternative route for STING activation.
  • Nanoparticle Delivery of Alu RNA Adjuvants Enhances Vaccine Immunogenicity
    Alexander J. Kwiatkowski, Jacob A. Schulman, Hayden M. Pagendarm, Lucinda E. Pastora, John T. Tossberg, Ruilin Zhang, Neil C. Chada, Mia E. Woodruff, Taylor L. Sheehy, Karan Arora, John Karijolich, Thomas M. Aune, John T. Wilson
    ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2025
    Vaccine adjuvants stimulate innate immunity to enhance and shape adaptive immune responses. However, approved adjuvants typically elicit weak CD8+ T cell responses to protein- and peptide-based vaccines, motivating an investigation into the discovery and testing of new adjuvants. Unedited forms of endogenous Alu RNAs are sensed by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) to trigger sterile inflammation, and therefore we hypothesized that synthetic Alu RNA molecules could be harnessed as vaccine adjuvants. To enhance their intracellular delivery, Alu RNA was copackaged with a model antigen into polymer nanoparticles that promoted endosomal escape of Alu RNA to the cytosol. Using this nanovaccine formulation, we found that Alu RNA activated antigen-presenting cells in vitro and in vaccine-site draining lymph nodes in vivo. Furthermore, we demonstrated that vaccine formulations containing Alu RNA as an adjuvant elicited comparable CD8+ T cell responses to those containing the common but highly heterogeneous RNA adjuvant PolyIC, and that this response protected mice from tumor challenge. Based on this, we further evaluated the antitumor efficacy of nanovaccine formulations containing Alu RNA adjuvants in mice with established tumors, again observing comparable responses to formulations containing PolyIC. Finally, we found that nanovaccines adjuvanted with Alu RNA could improve responses to anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade in tumor-bearing mice. Overall, this study demonstrates that unedited Alu RNA coformulated with antigen in polymer nanoparticles can be harnessed as an effective vaccine adjuvant for stimulating CD8+ T cell responses with antitumor function and may offer a sequence-defined alternative to PolyIC.
  • Covalent Polymer-RNA Conjugates for Potent Activation of the RIG-I Pathway
    Christian R. Palmer, Lucinda E. Pastora, Blaise R. Kimmel, Hayden M. Pagendarm, Alexander J. Kwiatkowski, Payton T. Stone, Karan Arora, Nora Francini, Olga Fedorova, Anna M. Pyle, John T. Wilson
    Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2025
    RNA ligands of retinoic acid‐inducible gene I (RIG‐I) are a promising class of oligonucleotide therapeutics with broad potential as antiviral agents, vaccine adjuvants, and cancer immunotherapies. However, their translation has been limited by major drug delivery barriers, including poor cellular uptake, nuclease degradation, and an inability to access the cytosol where RIG‐I is localized. Here this challenge is addressed by engineering nanoparticles that harness covalent conjugation of 5′‐triphospate RNA (3pRNA) to endosome‐destabilizing polymers. Compared to 3pRNA loaded into analogous nanoparticles via electrostatic interactions, it is found that covalent conjugation of 3pRNA improves loading efficiency, enhances immunostimulatory activity, protects against nuclease degradation, and improves serum stability. Additionally, it is found that 3pRNA could be conjugated via either a disulfide or thioether linkage, but that the latter is only permissible if conjugated distal to the 5′‐triphosphate group. Finally, administration of 3pRNA‐polymer conjugates to mice significantly increases type‐I interferon levels relative to analogous carriers that use electrostatic 3pRNA loading. Collectively, these studies have yielded a next‐generation polymeric carrier for in vivo delivery of 3pRNA, while also elucidating new chemical design principles for covalent conjugation of 3pRNA with potential to inform the further development of therapeutics and delivery technologies for pharmacological activation of RIG‐I.
  • STING-Activating Polymer-Drug Conjugates for Cancer Immunotherapy
    Taylor L. Sheehy, Alexander J. Kwiatkowski, Karan Arora, Blaise R. Kimmel, Jacob A. Schulman, Katherine N. Gibson-Corley, John T. Wilson
    ACS Central Science, 2024
    High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide The stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway links innate and adaptive antitumor immunity and therefore plays an important role in cancer immune surveillance. This has prompted widespread development of STING agonists for cancer immunotherapy, but pharmacological barriers continue to limit the clinical impact of STING agonists and motivate the development of drug delivery systems to improve their efficacy and/or safety. We developed SAPCon, a STING-activating polymer–drug conjugate platform based on strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition of a novel dimeric amidobenzimidazole (diABZI) STING prodrug to hydrophilic poly(dimethylacrylamide- co -azido-ethylmethacrylate) polymer chains through a cathepsin B-responsive linker to increase circulation time and enable passive tumor accumulation. We found that intravenously administered SAPCon accumulated at tumor sites, where it was endocytosed by tumor-associated myeloid cells, resulting in increased STING activation in the tumor tissue. Consequently, SAPCon promoted an immunogenic tumor microenvironment characterized by increased frequency of activated macrophages and dendritic cells and improved infiltration of CD8 + T cells, resulting in inhibition of tumor growth, prolonged survival, and enhanced response to anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade in orthotopic breast cancer models. Collectively, these studies position SAPCon as a modular and programmable platform for improving the efficacy of systemically administered STING agonists for cancer immunotherapy.
  • STING-Pathway Inhibiting Nanoparticles (SPINs) as a Platform for Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases
    Lucinda E. Pastora, Neeraj S. Namburu, Karan Arora, Plamen P. Christov, John T. Wilson
    ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2024
    Aberrant activation of the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)/Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) pathway has been implicated in the development and progression of a myriad of inflammatory diseases including colitis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and age-related macular degeneration. Thus, STING pathway inhibitors could have therapeutic application in many of these inflammatory conditions. The cGAS inhibitor RU.521 and the STING inhibitor H-151 have shown promise as therapeutics in mouse models of colitis, ALS, and more. However, these agents require frequent high-dose intraperitoneal injections, which may limit translatability. Furthermore, long-term use of systemically administered cGAS/STING inhibitors may leave patients vulnerable to viral infections and cancer. Thus, localized or targeted inhibition of the cGAS/STING pathway may be an attractive, broadly applicable treatment for a variety of STING pathway-driven ailments. Here we describe STING-Pathway Inhibiting Nanoparticles (SPINS)-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles loaded with RU.521 and H-151-as a platform for enhanced and sustained inhibition of cGAS/STING signaling. We demonstrate that SPINs are equally or more effective at inhibiting type-I interferon responses induced by cytosolic DNA than free H-151 or RU.521. Additionally, we describe a SPIN formulation in which PLGA is coemulsified with poly(benzoyloxypropyl methacrylamide) (P(HPMA-Bz)), which significantly improves drug loading and allows for tunable release of H-151 over a period of days to over a week by varying P(HPMA-Bz) content. Finally, we find that all SPIN formulations were as potent or more potent in inhibiting cGAS/STING signaling in primary murine macrophages, resulting in decreased expression of inflammatory M1-like macrophage markers. Therefore, our study provides an in vitro proof-of-concept for nanoparticle delivery of STING pathway inhibitors and positions SPINs as a potential platform for slowing or reversing the onset or progression of cGAS/STING-driven inflammatory conditions.
  • Dual-Responsive Glycopolymers for Intracellular Codelivery of Antigen and Lipophilic Adjuvants
    Judith De Mel, Mehjabeen Hossain, Oluwaseyi Shofolawe-Bakare, Sk Arif Mohammad, Emily Rasmussen, Khadeeja Milloy, Micaela Shields, Eric W. Roth, Karan Arora, Rafael Cueto, Shou-Ching Tang, John T. Wilson, Adam E. Smith, Thomas A. Werfel
    Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2022
    Traditional approaches to vaccines use whole organisms to trigger an immune response, but they do not typically generate robust cellular-mediated immunity and have various safety risks. Subunit vaccines composed of proteins and/or peptides represent an attractive and safe alternative to whole organism vaccines, but they are poorly immunogenic. Though there are biological reasons for the poor immunogenicity of proteins and peptides, one other key to their relative lack of immunogenicity could be attributed to the poor pharmacokinetic properties of exogenously delivered proteins and peptides. For instance, peptides often aggregate at the site of injection and are not stable in biological fluids, proteins and peptides are rapidly cleared from circulation, and both have poor cellular internalization and endosomal escape. Herein, we developed a delivery system to address the lack of protein immunogenicity by overcoming delivery barriers as well as codelivering immune-stimulating adjuvants. The glycopolymeric nanoparticles (glycoNPs) are composed of a dual-stimuli-responsive block glycopolymer, poly[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate]-b-poly[(pyridyl disulfide ethyl methacrylate)-co-(methacrylamidoglucopyranose)] (p[DPA-b-(PDSMA-co-MAG)]). This polymer facilitates protein conjugation and cytosolic release, the pH-responsive release of lipophilic adjuvants, and pH-dependent membrane disruption to ensure cytosolic delivery of antigens. We synthesized p[DPA-b-(PDSMA-co-MAG)] by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, followed by the formation and physicochemical characterization of glycoNPs using the p[DPA-b-(PDSMA-co-MAG)] building blocks. These glycoNPs conjugated the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) and released OVA in response to elevated glutathione levels. Moreover, the glycoNPs displayed pH-dependent drug release of the model hydrophobic drug Nile Red while also exhibiting pH-responsive endosomolytic behavior as indicated by a red blood cell hemolysis assay. GlycoNPs coloaded with OVA and the toll-like receptor 7/8 (TLR-7/8) agonist Resiquimod (R848) activated DC 2.4 dendritic cells (DCs) significantly more than free OVA and R848 and led to robust antigen presentation of the OVA epitope SIINFEKL on major histocompatibility complex I (MHC-I). In sum, the dual-stimuli-responsive glycopolymer introduced here overcomes major protein and peptide delivery barriers and could vastly improve the immunogenicity of protein-based vaccines.
  • A nanovaccine for enhancing cellular immunity via cytosolic co-delivery of antigen and polyIC RNA
    Carcia S. Carson, Kyle W. Becker, Kyle M. Garland, Hayden M. Pagendarm, Payton T. Stone, Karan Arora, Lihong Wang-Bishop, Jessalyn J. Baljon, Lorena D. Cruz, Sebastian Joyce, John T. Wilson
    Journal of Controlled Release, 2022
  • BODIPY-Caged Photoactivated Inhibitors of Cathepsin B Flip the Light Switch on Cancer Cell Apoptosis
    Nicholas P. Toupin, Karan Arora, Pradeep Shrestha, Julie A. Peterson, Logan J. Fischer, Erandi Rajagurubandara, Izabela Podgorski, Arthur H. Winter, Jeremy J. Kodanko
    ACS Chemical Biology, 2019
  • Catch and Release Photosensitizers: Combining Dual-Action Ruthenium Complexes with Protease Inactivation for Targeting Invasive Cancers
    Karan Arora, Mackenzie Herroon, Malik H. Al-Afyouni, Nicholas P. Toupin, Thomas N. Rohrabaugh, Lauren M. Loftus, Izabela Podgorski, Claudia Turro, Jeremy J. Kodanko
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2018
  • Affinity-Enhanced Luminescent Re(I)- and Ru(II)-Based Inhibitors of the Cysteine Protease Cathepsin L
    Matthew Huisman, Jacob P. Kodanko, Karan Arora, Mackenzie Herroon, Marim Alnaed, John Endicott, Izabela Podgorski, Jeremy J. Kodanko
    Inorganic Chemistry, 2018
  • Effects of Methyl Substitution in Ruthenium Tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine Photocaging Groups for Nitriles
    Karan Arora, Jessica K. White, Rajgopal Sharma, Shivnath Mazumder, Philip D. Martin, H. Bernhard Schlegel, Claudia Turro, Jeremy J. Kodanko
    Inorganic Chemistry, 2016
  • Selective Release of Aromatic Heterocycles from Ruthenium Tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine with Visible Light
    Ao Li, Jessica K. White, Karan Arora, Mackenzie K. Herroon, Philip D. Martin, H. Bernhard Schlegel, Izabela Podgorski, Claudia Turro, Jeremy J. Kodanko
    Inorganic Chemistry, 2016
  • Oxidative dearomatization: Synthesis of functionalized bicyclo[2.2.2]octenones, sigmatropic shift in excited state, and radical-induced cleavage of cyclopropane ring
    Karan Arora, Vishwakarma Singh
    Synthetic Communications, 2014

RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • A Molecularly Defined Polymeric Platform for Environmentally Responsive Activation of STING to Enhance Cancer Immunotherapy
    JA Schulman, K Arora, AJ Kwiatkowski, NC Chada, JA Steele, ...
    Biomaterials, 124238 , 2026
    2026
  • Abstract LB415: Nanobody: STING agonists reprogram the tumor microenvironment and improve adoptive cell therapy for solid tumors
    NC Chada, AE Lee, HJ Frank, DK Oh, H Ki, AJ Kwiatkowski, K Arora, ...
    Cancer Research 86 (8_Supplement), LB415-LB415 , 2026
    2026
  • Macromolecular Diamidobenzimidazole conjugates can activate stimulator of interferon genes
    K Arora, TL Sheehy, JA Schulman, JR Loken, Z Lehmann, BR Kimmel, ...
    Journal of the American Chemical Society 147 (38), 35149-35163 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 6
  • Nanoparticle Delivery of Alu RNA Adjuvants Enhances Vaccine Immunogenicity
    AJ Kwiatkowski, JA Schulman, HM Pagendarm, LE Pastora, JT Tossberg, ...
    ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 17 (36), 50560-50572 , 2025
    2025
  • Potentiating cancer immunotherapies with modular albumin-hitchhiking nanobody–STING agonist conjugates
    BR Kimmel, K Arora, NC Chada, V Bharti, AJ Kwiatkowski, JE Finkelstein, ...
    Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1-21 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 47
  • Covalent Polymer‐RNA Conjugates for Potent Activation of the RIG‐I Pathway
    CR Palmer, LE Pastora, BR Kimmel, HM Pagendarm, AJ Kwiatkowski, ...
    Advanced Healthcare Materials 14 (5), 2303815 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 4
  • Macromolecular Diamidobenzimidazole Conjugates Activate STING
    K Arora, TL Sheehy, JA Schulman, BR Kimmel, C McAtee, V Bharti, ...
    bioRxiv, 2025.01. 21.634206 , 2025
    2025
  • STING-activating polymer–drug conjugates for cancer immunotherapy
    TL Sheehy, AJ Kwiatkowski, K Arora, BR Kimmel, JA Schulman, ...
    ACS Central Science 10 (9), 1765-1781 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 27
  • Programable albumin-hitchhiking nanobodies enhance the delivery of STING agonists to potentiate cancer immunotherapy
    J Wilson, B Kimmel, K Arora, N Chada, V Bharti, A Kwiatkowski, ...
    Research square, rs. 3. rs-3243545 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 4
  • STING-pathway inhibiting nanoparticles (SPINs) as a platform for treatment of inflammatory diseases
    LE Pastora, NS Namburu, K Arora, PP Christov, JT Wilson
    ACS Applied Bio Materials 7 (8), 4867-4878 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 9
  • Sting-Pathway Inhibiting PLGA Nanoparticles to Treat Sting-Associated Inflammatory Conditions
    L Pastora, P Christov, K Arora, CR Palmer, JT Wilson
    2023 AIChE Annual Meeting , 2023
    2023
  • Dual-responsive glycopolymers for intracellular codelivery of antigen and lipophilic adjuvants
    J De Mel, M Hossain, O Shofolawe-Bakare, SA Mohammad, ...
    Molecular pharmaceutics 19 (12), 4705-4716 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 20
  • A nanovaccine for enhancing cellular immunity via cytosolic co-delivery of antigen and polyIC RNA
    CS Carson, KW Becker, KM Garland, HM Pagendarm, PT Stone, K Arora, ...
    Journal of Controlled Release 345, 354-370 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 33
  • BODIPY-caged photoactivated inhibitors of cathepsin B flip the light switch on cancer cell apoptosis
    NP Toupin, K Arora, P Shrestha, JA Peterson, LJ Fischer, ...
    ACS chemical biology 14 (12), 2833-2840 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 56
  • Catch and release photosensitizers: combining dual-action ruthenium complexes with protease inactivation for targeting invasive cancers
    K Arora, M Herroon, MH Al-Afyouni, NP Toupin, TN Rohrabaugh Jr, ...
    Journal of the American Chemical Society 140 (43), 14367-14380 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 140
  • Affinity-enhanced luminescent Re (I)-and Ru (II)-based inhibitors of the cysteine protease cathepsin L
    M Huisman, JP Kodanko, K Arora, M Herroon, M Alnaed, J Endicott, ...
    Inorganic chemistry 57 (13), 7881-7891 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 11
  • us, I. Podgorski, C. Turro and JJ Kodanko
    K Arora, M Herroon, MH Al-Afyouni, NP Toupin, TN Rohrabaugh Jr, LM Lo
    J. Am. Chem. Soc 140, 14367-14380 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 9
  • Synthesis, Characterization, Computational & Biological Evaluation of Caged Bioactive Molecules
    K Arora
    Wayne State University , 2018
    2018
  • Effects of methyl substitution in ruthenium tris (2-pyridylmethyl) amine photocaging groups for nitriles
    K Arora, JK White, R Sharma, S Mazumder, PD Martin, HB Schlegel, ...
    Inorganic chemistry 55 (14), 6968-6979 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 40
  • Selective release of aromatic heterocycles from ruthenium tris (2-pyridylmethyl) amine with visible light
    A Li, JK White, K Arora, MK Herroon, PD Martin, HB Schlegel, I Podgorski, ...
    Inorganic chemistry 55 (1), 10-12 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 41

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Catch and release photosensitizers: combining dual-action ruthenium complexes with protease inactivation for targeting invasive cancers
    K Arora, M Herroon, MH Al-Afyouni, NP Toupin, TN Rohrabaugh Jr, ...
    Journal of the American Chemical Society 140 (43), 14367-14380 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 140
  • BODIPY-caged photoactivated inhibitors of cathepsin B flip the light switch on cancer cell apoptosis
    NP Toupin, K Arora, P Shrestha, JA Peterson, LJ Fischer, ...
    ACS chemical biology 14 (12), 2833-2840 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 56
  • Potentiating cancer immunotherapies with modular albumin-hitchhiking nanobody–STING agonist conjugates
    BR Kimmel, K Arora, NC Chada, V Bharti, AJ Kwiatkowski, JE Finkelstein, ...
    Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1-21 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 47
  • Selective release of aromatic heterocycles from ruthenium tris (2-pyridylmethyl) amine with visible light
    A Li, JK White, K Arora, MK Herroon, PD Martin, HB Schlegel, I Podgorski, ...
    Inorganic chemistry 55 (1), 10-12 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 41
  • Effects of methyl substitution in ruthenium tris (2-pyridylmethyl) amine photocaging groups for nitriles
    K Arora, JK White, R Sharma, S Mazumder, PD Martin, HB Schlegel, ...
    Inorganic chemistry 55 (14), 6968-6979 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 40
  • A nanovaccine for enhancing cellular immunity via cytosolic co-delivery of antigen and polyIC RNA
    CS Carson, KW Becker, KM Garland, HM Pagendarm, PT Stone, K Arora, ...
    Journal of Controlled Release 345, 354-370 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 33
  • STING-activating polymer–drug conjugates for cancer immunotherapy
    TL Sheehy, AJ Kwiatkowski, K Arora, BR Kimmel, JA Schulman, ...
    ACS Central Science 10 (9), 1765-1781 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 27
  • Dual-responsive glycopolymers for intracellular codelivery of antigen and lipophilic adjuvants
    J De Mel, M Hossain, O Shofolawe-Bakare, SA Mohammad, ...
    Molecular pharmaceutics 19 (12), 4705-4716 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 20
  • Affinity-enhanced luminescent Re (I)-and Ru (II)-based inhibitors of the cysteine protease cathepsin L
    M Huisman, JP Kodanko, K Arora, M Herroon, M Alnaed, J Endicott, ...
    Inorganic chemistry 57 (13), 7881-7891 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 11
  • STING-pathway inhibiting nanoparticles (SPINs) as a platform for treatment of inflammatory diseases
    LE Pastora, NS Namburu, K Arora, PP Christov, JT Wilson
    ACS Applied Bio Materials 7 (8), 4867-4878 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 9
  • us, I. Podgorski, C. Turro and JJ Kodanko
    K Arora, M Herroon, MH Al-Afyouni, NP Toupin, TN Rohrabaugh Jr, LM Lo
    J. Am. Chem. Soc 140, 14367-14380 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 9
  • Macromolecular Diamidobenzimidazole conjugates can activate stimulator of interferon genes
    K Arora, TL Sheehy, JA Schulman, JR Loken, Z Lehmann, BR Kimmel, ...
    Journal of the American Chemical Society 147 (38), 35149-35163 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 6
  • Covalent Polymer‐RNA Conjugates for Potent Activation of the RIG‐I Pathway
    CR Palmer, LE Pastora, BR Kimmel, HM Pagendarm, AJ Kwiatkowski, ...
    Advanced Healthcare Materials 14 (5), 2303815 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 4
  • Programable albumin-hitchhiking nanobodies enhance the delivery of STING agonists to potentiate cancer immunotherapy
    J Wilson, B Kimmel, K Arora, N Chada, V Bharti, A Kwiatkowski, ...
    Research square, rs. 3. rs-3243545 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 4
  • Oxidative Dearomatization: Synthesis of Functionalized Bicyclo [2.2. 2] octenones, Sigmatropic Shift in Excited State, and Radical-Induced Cleavage of Cyclopropane Ring
    K Arora, V Singh
    Synthetic Communications 44 (24), 3552-3562 , 2014
    2014
    Citations: 2
  • A Molecularly Defined Polymeric Platform for Environmentally Responsive Activation of STING to Enhance Cancer Immunotherapy
    JA Schulman, K Arora, AJ Kwiatkowski, NC Chada, JA Steele, ...
    Biomaterials, 124238 , 2026
    2026
  • Abstract LB415: Nanobody: STING agonists reprogram the tumor microenvironment and improve adoptive cell therapy for solid tumors
    NC Chada, AE Lee, HJ Frank, DK Oh, H Ki, AJ Kwiatkowski, K Arora, ...
    Cancer Research 86 (8_Supplement), LB415-LB415 , 2026
    2026
  • Nanoparticle Delivery of Alu RNA Adjuvants Enhances Vaccine Immunogenicity
    AJ Kwiatkowski, JA Schulman, HM Pagendarm, LE Pastora, JT Tossberg, ...
    ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 17 (36), 50560-50572 , 2025
    2025
  • Macromolecular Diamidobenzimidazole Conjugates Activate STING
    K Arora, TL Sheehy, JA Schulman, BR Kimmel, C McAtee, V Bharti, ...
    bioRxiv, 2025.01. 21.634206 , 2025
    2025
  • Sting-Pathway Inhibiting PLGA Nanoparticles to Treat Sting-Associated Inflammatory Conditions
    L Pastora, P Christov, K Arora, CR Palmer, JT Wilson
    2023 AIChE Annual Meeting , 2023
    2023