Hydrogels and Oligonucleotide Hybridizaton for Sustained Delivery of Small Molecule Therapeutics

1159774/Schmidt该奖项由化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统部的生物技术、生物化学和生物质工程项目以及国家科学基金会材料研究部的生物材料项目共同资助。尽管做出了巨大的研究努力，但临床上还没有用于脊髓损伤后修复的疗法，部分原因是抑制性蛋白聚糖在限制中枢神经系统再生中起关键作用。因此，拟议项目的具体目标是开发治疗系统，以减少抑制性蛋白聚糖的负面影响，并随后增强轴突再生。为此，将开发针对蛋白酪氨酸磷酸酶（PTP）-σ（一种成年哺乳动物CNS中抑制性蛋白聚糖的受体）的新型适体拮抗剂。这项研究的另一个令人兴奋的组成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。将通过使用寡核苷酸杂交的微粒/水凝胶复合物实现适体向受损脊髓的持续释放。该项目是真正的跨学科研究，在组织工程，核酸生物技术和神经科学的前沿。

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.