Engineering Biomimetic Microsystems for Nanomedicine

Abstract

Nanomedicine – the application of nanotechnology to healthcare – encompasses the rapidly expanding field of drug delivery using nanomaterials. The advanced treatment of diseases, such as cancer and atherosclerosis, need controlled targeted delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic (theranostic) nanomaterials containing multiple drugs and imaging agents for treating diseases and monitoring their transport in the human body. Conventional approaches to the syntheses have faced challenges including batch-to-batch variations in the physicochemical properties and difficulties in scaling up the production. Moreover, poor in vitro models in drug development process lead to nearly a third of experimental drugs failing only once they are tested in patients. This talk will present two approaches to overcome the challenges, which include (1) the controlled microfluidic formulation of theranostic nanomaterials with high productivity and reproducibility and (2) the development of a simple microchip model for probing nanoparticle translocation over the permeable endothelium in experimental atherosclerosis. These approaches will facilitate the development and optimization of multicomponent theranostic nanomaterials, contributing to a novel therapeutic and diagnostic paradigm for treating atherosclerosis as well as cancer.