CAREER: Predicting Nanoparticle Targeted Delivery Efficacy in Vascular Environment through Multiscale Modeling

近年来，纳米颗粒系统已广泛用于诊断成像和靶向治疗应用。纳米医学的主要挑战之一是在复杂的血管流动条件下提高颗粒选择性和粘附效率。为了将纳米药物直接递送到所需的患病组织，同时使健康组织沿着路径的沉积/摄取最小化，需要将纳米颗粒的设计与患病区域的物理参数（例如，血管直径、血液流速、表面积等）一起考虑。所提出的职业发展策略的目标是揭示纳米颗粒的粘附动力学，并通过多尺度建模方法预测复杂血管环境下的靶向递送功效。为了实现这一目标，将开发一个纳米颗粒传输、分散和粘附动力学的3D多尺度模型。这种模型将用于预测在理想化血管网络和从扫描图像重建的血管中的颗粒递送功效。一个完全集成的多尺度模型，连接不同的功能生物尺度，成像和物理系统，将首次允许系统级纳米医学评估。 所提出的基于多尺度模拟的方法将提供一个严格的数学模型的纳米粒子粘附动力学在复杂的血管环境。这项工作的结果将为新的纳米药物设计和靶向给药的剂量选择指导铺平道路。拟议的跨学科研究恭维PI？通过将研究融入教育和推广活动，如研究生和本科生课程和工程夏令营，实现了教育目标。一个互动网站托管研究生的研究项目将被创建，让高中生学习生物纳米技术在线。教育计划将提高高中教师和学生对纳米技术潜在的生物医学应用的认识，促进各级学生对纳米生物界面现象的理解，并提高少数民族对科学和工程的参与。

0955214LiuNanoparticulate systems have been widely used in diagnostic imaging and targeted therapeutic applications in recent years. One of the major challenges in nanomedicine is to improve particle selectivity and adhesion efficiency under complex vascular flow conditions. To deliver nanomedicine directly to the desired diseased tissue while minimizing deposition/uptake by healthy tissues along the pathway, the design of nanoparticle need to be considered together with the diseased region's physical parameters (e.g. vascular diameter, blood flow rate, surface area, etc). The goal of the proposed career development strategy is to uncover the adhesion dynamics of nanoparticles and predict targeted delivery efficacy under complex vascular environment through a multiscale modeling approach. In pursue of this goal, a 3D multiscale model of nanoparticle transport, dispersion, and adhesion dynamics will be developed. Such model will be used to predict particle delivery efficacy in idealized vascular networks and vasculatures reconstructed from scanned images. A fully integrated multiscale model, linking different functional biological scales, imaging and physical system, will allow system level nanomedicine evaluation for the first time. The proposed multiscale simulation based method will provide a rigorous mathematical model of nanoparticle adhesion dynamics under complex vascular environment. Results of this work will pave the way toward new nanomedicine design and dosage choice guidances for targeted drug delivery. The proposed interdisciplinary research compliments the PI?s educational goals by integrating research into educational and outreach activities such as graduate and undergraduate courses and engineering summer camps. An interactive website hosting graduate student's research projects will be created to allow high-school students to learn bio-nanotechnology online. The education plan will increase the awareness among high school teachers and students of the potential biomedical applications of nanotechnology, to advance understanding of nano-bio interfacial phenomena for students at all levels, and to increase minority participation in science and engineering.