Q&A with Alina Ringaci: Improving Antibody-Drug Conjugates for Cancer Treatment
October 20, 2025Alina Ringaci, a PhD student at Boston University, is studying how to improve antibody-drug conjugates, a type of cancer treatment that delivers drugs directly to cancer cells.
When Alina Ringaci decided to pursue her PhD at Boston University, she knew she wanted to conduct research with clear potential for translation to patients.
“I realized that I would probably not be fully satisfied if I worked on something very abstract, on the things I never can touch,” she said. “I joined an experimental lab in drug delivery, and I realized that the drug delivery area is kind of a mixture of every scientific discipline and I was really enjoying this.”
Ringaci received a 2025 PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Delivery for her research that aims to improve antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a type of cancer treatment that uses special proteins called antibodies to deliver drugs directly to cancer cells. Unfortunately, ADCs often release the drug too early, before reaching the cancer cells, which then affects healthy cells and causes side effects.
Ringaci is developing a new way to connect the drug to the antibody that is more secure and stable, reducing the risk of the drug falling off before reaching a cancer cell. Watch this video to learn more about Ringaci and her research.
Learn more about the PhRMA Foundation’s fellowship and grant opportunities. Check out more researcher stories on our blog.
