I-Corps: Burning fat by nanoparticles for obesity treatment (FatBuringNanoTM)

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to prevent and treat obesity and its related diseases using adipose stromal stem cell (ASC)-targeted nanoparticle (NP)-based drug delivery technology. Obesity is a major public health problem in the US and worldwide. More than one third of US adults are obese, and more than two thirds are either overweight or obese. Obesity is a major risk factor for developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, fatty liver diseases and other metabolic disorders. The estimated yearly medical care costs of obesity are more than $145 billion in the US. Currently available anti-obesity medical therapies have many severe issues, hence, better approaches to combat obesity are greatly needed. The ASC-targeted NP-based delivery technology is to deliver bioactive agents/drugs to ASCs in subcutaneous adipose tissue, inducing excessive glucose and fat burn off, thus combating obesity and its related complications with high efficacy and minimum side effects. Our technology can improve human health and the quality of life while dramatically reducing medical care costs, ultimately lessening the negative societal and economic impact of obesity. In addition, a doctoral student will gain intensive and rigorous training and experience in innovation and entrepreneurship. This I-Corps project will explore the market potential of a technology involving the use of ASC-targeted NP-based device for the prevention and treatment of obesity with high efficacy and low side effects. ASCs are stem cells found in the adipose tissues. ASCs can be differentiated into many different types of cells that aid in tissue repair, regenerative medicine, obesity and other disease therapy. We aim to induce ASCs differentiation into beige adipocytes in the subcutaneous white adipose tissue for combating obesity. Different from fat-storage white adipocytes, beige adipocytes burn excessive fat and glucose. ASC-targeted NP-based device can deliver bioactive agents/drugs to subcutaneous ASCs and subsequently induce them differentiation into beige adipocytes, resulting in body weight and fat loss and improved metabolic health. This local (transdermal device) and targeted (ASC-targeted NPs) delivery technology bypasses the liver and other tissues, thus minimizing administration frequency, enhancing compliance, and most importantly, maximizing overall treatment efficacy while decreasing side effects. This I-Corps project aims to evaluate the market opportunity of the FatBurningNanoTM technology and help establish product-market fit through upcoming customer interviews. The feedback from these activities will facilitate product development, and its ultimate commercialization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.