Member, Cancer Biology Department
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Elm and Carlton Streets
Buffalo, NY 14263
Tel: (716)845-8595
Fax: (716)845-8899
E-mail: sekwen.hui@roswellpark.org

Education
University of West Australia, Perth Australia, B.Sc., 1964, Physics
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, Ph.D., 1968, Physics
Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, Postdoctoral, 1972, Biophysics

General Research Interest
To apply basic knowledge of liposomes and the electric properties of cell membrane and the skin, in order to design effective ways for drug and gene delivery. The Membrane Biophysics Laboratory has a long history of studying the physical chemistry of membrane lipids and the mechanisms of artificially induced membrane fusion: by polyethylene glycol and by electric pulse treatments. The utilization of cationic liposomes, stealth liposomes, electrofusion and electroporation as delivery vectors opens up new, efficient and safe pathways for drug therapy. Understanding the biophysical mechanisms of liposomes-cell reaction and electroporation provided rational design and protocol development for in vitro, ex vitro and in vivo applications of this biotechnology. These same methods are applied to deliver molecules through the skin barrier with minimal damage and discomfort. Transdermal gene delivery can be used for gene therapy and immunotherapy.

Key Publications

 

• Hui, S.W. and Parsons, D.F. Direct observation of domains of wet lipid bilayers. Science 190:383-384 (1975).
• Hui, S.W., Stewart, T.P., Boni, L.T. and Yeagle, P.L. Membrane fusion through point defects in bilayers. Science 212:921-923 (1981).
• Hui, S.W. and Stewart, T.P. Lipidic particles are intermembrane attachment sites. Nature 290:427-428 (1981).
• Geer, R., Stoebe, T., Huang, C.C., Pindak, R., Goodby, J.W., Cheng, M., Ho, J.T. and Hui, S.W. Liquid-hexatic phase transitions in single molecular layers of liquid-crystal films. Nature 355:152-154 (1992).
• Li, L.-H. and Hui, S.W. Characterization of PEG-mediated electrofusion of human erythrocytes. Biophys. J. 67:2361-2366 (1994).
• Wells, J.M., Li, L.H., Sen, A., Jahreis, G.P. and Hui, S.W. Electroporation-Enhanced Gene Delivery in Mammary Tumors. Gene Therapy 7:541-547 (2000).
• Li, L.H., McCarthy, P. and Hui, S.W. High efficient electrotransfection of human primary hematopoietic stem cells. FASEB J. 10:1096 (2001).

Further Information

 

• Hui, S.W. (editor). Membrane Structure Studies by Freeze Fracture Electron Microscopy. (Interscience, CRC Press, 1989). Including: Hui, S.W. The kinetics of artificially induced membrane fusion. pp. 129-146.
• Hui, S.W. "Freeze fracture studies of membrane lipids". In: Electron Microscopy Reviews, Subcellular and Biomolecular Structure, II. (J.R. Harris, ed., Pergamon Press, 1988), Vol. 1, pp. 351-370.
• Hui, S.W. and Stenger, D.A. "Electrofusion of cells: Comparison of hybridoma productions by electrofusion and by polyethylene glycol". In: Methods of Enzymology: Membrane Fusion Techniques (N. Duzgunes, ed., Academic Press, 1990), Vol. 220, pp. 212-227.
• Hui, S.W. and Stenger, D.A. "Effects of Intercellular Forces in Electrofusion". In: Handbook of Electroporation and Electrofusion (D.C. Chang, B.M. Chassy, J.A. Saunders, A.E. Sowers, eds., Academic Press, New York, 1992) pp. 167-178.
• Hui, S.W. "Geometry of Domains and Domain Boundaries in Monolayers and Bilayers". Molecular Membrane Biology 12/1 (Jan. - Mar. 1995) pp. 45-50.
• Hui, S.W. "The Effect of Pulse Length and Pulse Field Strength in Electrofusion". In: Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol:48 Animal Cell Electroporation and Electrofusion Protocols. (J.A. Nickoloff, ed., Humana Press, 1995) pp. 29-40.
• Hui, S.W. and Li, L.H. In vitro and ex vivo delivery of genes to cells by electroporation. In: Electrical mediated delivery of molecules to cells; electrochemotherapy, electrogenetherapy and transdermal delivery by electroporation. (M.J. Jaroszeski, R. Gilbert, and R. Heller, eds., Humana Press, Totowa, N.J., 1999) in press.