Drug Eluting Contact Lenses

描述（由申请人提供）：在完成眼科住院医师培训后，我在马萨诸塞州眼耳医院（MEEI）开始了为期2年的角膜奖学金。在第一年，我在马萨诸塞州理工学院（MIT）的兰格实验室（Langer Lab）几乎完全从事基础科学研究，由医学博士丹尼尔·科汉（Daniel Kohane）和医学博士克拉斯·多尔曼（Claes Dohlman）指导。沿着角膜组织工程项目，我们开发了一种药物洗脱接触透镜。我的主要临床兴趣是角膜疾病的治疗。对于大多数患者来说，眼部手术后使用的抗生素等药物没有替代局部溶液（滴剂）。此外，绷带隐形眼镜通常与抗生素一起使用。本研究将奋进于创造一种新的眼部药物传递模式：药物洗脱接触镜。在进行动物研究之前，实验室研究将继续进行设计修改和药物释放研究。体内研究遵循从研究药物洗脱接触透镜在正常生理条件下的作用到其用作疾病（细菌性角膜炎和青光眼）治疗的自然进展。这个指导化学工程，微生物学和眼部药物输送的研究项目，结合适当的课程，旨在培养生物技术方法解决医疗问题和眼部药物输送的能力。我将在我现在的导师丹尼尔·科汉（聚合物药物输送专家）和詹姆斯·乔多什（动物疾病模型专家）的指导下继续这项研究。MEEI是眼科研究的领导者。麻省理工学院的兰格实验室提供世界一流的聚合物技术教育。这项研究将在一个由科学家和临床科学家组成的团队的支持下进行，他们在大学环境中指导了100多名私家侦探。我与团队成员之间已经建立的个人关系将因他们在各自领域的专业知识而得到丰富。他们将帮助我实现研究目标，并指导我的职业发展。因此，该计划将培养必要的能力和方法，以培养我成为一名独立的调查员，并可能成为下一代临床科学家的领导者。相关性（参见说明）：药物洗脱隐形眼镜将提供滴眼剂的替代品，滴眼剂是低效的递送系统，难以自我施用，含有过敏诱导防腐剂，与眼睛接触时间有限，并且不能用于许多药物。更重要的是，它们将提供用目前无法以滴剂形式提供的大量药物治疗眼疾的可能性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): After completing my ophthalmology residency, I began a unique 2 year cornea fellowship at Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary (MEEI). During the first year, I worked nearly exclusively on basic science research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Langer Lab, mentored by Daniel Kohane, MD, PhD and Claes Dohlman, MD, PhD. Along with cornea tissue engineering projects, we developed a drug-eluting contact lens. My principal clinical interest is in the treatment of cornea diseases. For most patients there is no alternative to topical solutions (drops) for medications such as antibiotics used after eye surgery. In addition, bandage contact lenses are often used in conjunction with antibiotics. This research will endeavor to create a new mode of ocular drug delivery: drug-eluting contact lenses. The benchtop research will continue with experiments in design modification and drug release studies before progressing to animal studies. The in vivo research follows a natural progression from studying the drug-eluting contact lens's effect under normal, physiologic conditions to its use as a treatment of disease (bacterial keratitis and glaucoma). This mentored research project in chemical engineering, microbiology, and ocular drug delivery, in conjunction with the appropriate coursework, aims to develop competence in biotechnological approaches to medical problems and ocular drug delivery. I will continue the research under my current mentor Daniel Kohane, an expert in polymer drug delivery, and James Chodosh, an expert in animal disease models. MEEI is a leader in ophthalmic research. MIT's Langer lab offers a world-class education in polymer technology. The research will be conducted with the support of a team of scientists and clinician-scientists who have mentored over a 100 private investigators in university settings. The personal relationship that I already have with the team members will be enriched by their expertise in their respective fields. They will help me to accomplish the research aims and mentor my career development. Thus, this program will foster the abilities and approach necessary to train me to become an independent investigator and possibly a leader in the next generation of clinician-scientists. RELEVANCE (See instructions): Drug eluting contact lenses would provide an alternative to eye drops, which are inefficient delivery system that can be difficult to self-administer, contain allergy-inducing preservatives, have a limited contact time with the eye, and cannot be used for many medications. More importantly, they would offer the possibility of treating eye diseases with a host of medications that cannot currently be delivered in a drop form.