Magnetic Nanocapsules for Spatio-Temporal Control of Drug Delivery

该奖项由加州大学圣地亚哥分校材料研究部的生物材料项目授予，旨在研究生物材料及其有效载荷的磁远程时空控制。含有治疗剂的磁性纳米胶囊可以提供一种可行的手段来远程控制治疗剂通过血管和血脑屏障释放到细胞聚集体。磁性纳米胶囊响应远程施加的磁场，按需释放药物。为了通过实验证明生物材料反应的时空控制概念，研究人员将设计和构建具有创新开关可切换药物递送方法的纳米胶囊。 这些具有治疗作用的胶囊化磁性材料的性质和尺寸将有所不同，以了解这些参数对生物材料特性及其药物释放行为的影响。预期的影响预计在药物输送领域将是显著的，这将有利于临床上具有挑战性的中枢神经系统疾病以及癌症治疗。研究生将接受本研究项目多学科方面的培训，涉及材料科学，生物学，生物工程，化学和化学工程等高度跨学科领域。该项目的教育推广计划将涉及年度圣地亚哥科学节（圣地亚哥科学周）和教师培训和专业发展计划，这些计划由BioBridge科学推广计划组织，该计划是加州大学，圣地亚哥，圣地亚哥学区和行业之间基于社区的合作伙伴关系。 该研究项目旨在研究基于含有治疗药物有效载荷的磁性纳米胶囊的智能药物释放系统。这种可控的药物递送技术可以提供可行的手段来治疗阿尔茨海默病和其他中枢神经系统疾病，以及使用药物的按需释放的各种类型的癌症。为了通过实验证明远程时空控制生物材料响应的概念，研究人员将设计和构建纳米胶囊，胶囊材料和磁性材料的性质和尺寸将有所不同，以了解这些参数对生物材料特性和药物释放行为效率的影响。这项新技术还可以广泛应用于许多其他治疗领域，使大量患者受益，并为更广泛的经济刺激提供机会。新方法也将激励材料科学和生物工程领域的许多科学家和工程师进一步创新和理解生物材料的设计，行为和应用。这个高度多学科的研究项目还将强调研究生，本科生和高中生，包括贫困高中生的教育方面。

This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of California-San Diego is to investigate magnetic remote spatio-temporal control of biomaterials and their payloads. Magnetic nanocapsules containing therapeutics could provide a viable means to remotely control the release of therapeutics to cell aggregates, through the blood vessels and blood-brain barrier. The magnetic nanocapsules respond to remotely applied magnetic fields to release drugs on-demand. To experimentally demonstrate the concept of spatio-temporal control of biomaterial response, the investigators will design and construct nanocapsules with innovative on-off switchable drug delivery approaches. The nature and dimension of these capsulated magnetic materials with therapeutics will be varied to understand the effects of these parameters on biomaterial characteristics and their drug release behavior. The anticipated impacts are expected to be significant in the drug delivery area that will benefit clinically challenging central nervous system disorders as well as cancer treatments. Graduate students will be trained with the multidisciplinary facets of this research project, and involves highly interdisciplinary fields such as materials science, biology, bioengineering, chemistry and chemical engineering. The educational outreach plan of this project will involve Annual San Diego Science Festival (Science Week San Diego) and Teacher Training and Professional Development programs that are organized by the BioBridge Science Outreach Initiative, a community based partnership among University of California, San Diego, San Diego School districts and industry. This research project aims to investigate smart drug release systems based on magnetic nanocapsules containing therapeutic drug payloads. Such a controllable drug delivery techniques could provide viable means to treat Alzheimer's disease and other central nervous system disorders, and various types of cancers using on-demand release of drugs. To experimentally demonstrate the concept of remote spatio-temporal control of biomaterial response, the investigators will design and construct nanocapsules, and the nature and dimension of the capsule materials and magnetic materials will be varied to understand the effects of these parameters on biomaterial characteristics and efficiency of drug release behavior. The new technique can also be applied broadly to many other therapeutic areas to benefit large patient populations, and also provide opportunities for broader economic stimulus. The new approach will also stimulate many scientists and engineers in the materials science and bioengineering field for further innovations and understanding of biomaterials design, behavior and applications. This highly multidisciplinary research project will also emphasize the educational aspects for graduate, undergraduate, and high school students, including under-privileged high school students.