Hydrogels and Oligonucleotide Hybridizaton for Sustained Delivery of Small Molecule Therapeutics

1159774/ schmidt该奖项由美国国家科学基金会化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统部的生物技术、生化和生物质工程项目以及材料研究部的生物材料项目共同资助。尽管付出了巨大的研究努力，但临床上还没有治疗脊髓损伤后修复的方法，部分原因是抑制性蛋白多糖在限制中枢神经系统再生方面起着关键作用。因此，该项目的具体目标是开发治疗系统，以减少抑制性蛋白多糖的负面影响，并随后增强轴突再生。为此，将开发新的适体拮抗剂，以对抗成年哺乳动物中枢神经系统中抑制蛋白多糖的受体蛋白酪氨酸磷酸酶(PTP)-sigma。拟议研究的另一个令人兴奋的部分涉及生物材料在动物体内持续递送生物分子的新用途。通过使用寡核苷酸杂交的微粒/水凝胶复合材料，将适体持续释放到受损的脊髓。该项目是组织工程、核酸生物技术和神经科学前沿的真正跨学科研究。

1159774/ SchmidtThis award is funded jointly by the Biotechnology, Biochemical and Biomass Engineering Program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems and the Biomaterials Program in the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation.Despite tremendous research efforts, there are no therapies in the clinic for repair after injury to the spinal cord, in part due to inhibitory proteoglycans that play a key role in limiting regeneration in the central nervous system. Thus, the specific goal of the proposed project is to develop therapeutic systems to decrease the negative effects of inhibitory proteoglycans and to subsequently enhance axon regeneration. To this end, novel aptamer antagonists against protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP)-sigma, a receptor for inhibitory proteoglycans in the adult mammalian CNS, will be developed. Another exciting component of the proposed research involves a novel use of biomaterials for sustained delivery of biomolecules in animals. Sustained release of aptamers to the injured spinal cord will be achieved via microparticle/hydrogel composites using oligonucleotide hybridization. This project is truly interdisciplinary research at the forefront of tissue engineering, nucleic acid biotechnology and neuroscience.