Development of Microparticles for Enhanced Embolization Therapies

开发用于医疗的新型生物材料是一项挑战，需要先进的 制造技术。例如，专门的微粒具有显著改进的潜力 治疗肝细胞癌等疾病。微粒使局部治疗成为可能 例如经动脉化疗栓塞术(TACE)用于在以下情况下诊断该疾病 晚期和外科治疗是不可能的。在TACE治疗中，这是一种微创 作为手术的替代，微粒被用作栓塞剂。这些颗粒可防止血液流向肿瘤 并且当预载有合适的药物时，还可以作为靶向药物输送系统发挥作用。 这项拟议的研究是与ABK Biomedical Inc.合作进行的，ABK Biomedical Inc.是一家动态医疗设备初创公司 总部设在新斯科舍省的公司。他们目前正在开发治疗癌症的栓塞剂。 比如肝细胞癌。ABK的产品基于一种新型的不透射线的栓塞珠平台，该平台将使 临床医生在手术过程中和手术后都要目视监测栓塞处。他们正在寻求延长他们的 通过为以下新型产品开发先进的制造技术，提供了一系列TACE产品 生物材料：(1)促进药物输送的聚合物包覆玻璃栓塞微球；(2)聚合物共混物 栓塞剂微球。布鲁克斯博士在达尔豪西大学的研究团队将研究先进的 开发适合玻璃微球和玻璃微球的聚合物涂层的制造技术 合成不透射线栓塞型微球的新型聚合物共混物。

The development of novel biomaterials for medical applications is a challenge that requires advanced manufacturing techniques. For example, specialized microparticles have the potential to substantially improve the treatment of diseases such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Microparticles enable localized therapies such as transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) to be used in cases where the disease has been diagnosed at an advanced stage and surgical treatment is not possible. In TACE therapy, which is a minimally-invasive alternative to surgery, microparticles are utilized as embolic agents. The particles prevent blood flow to tumors and can also function as a targeted drug delivery system, when preloaded with a suitable drug. The proposed research is in collaboration with ABK Biomedical Inc., a dynamic medical device start-up company based in Nova Scotia. They are currently pursuing the development of embolic agents to treat cancers such as HCC. ABK's products are based on a novel radiopaque embolic bead platform that will enable clinicians to visually monitor the embolic site both during and post-procedure. They are seeking to extend their range of TACE products by developing advanced manufacturing techniques for the following novel biomaterials: (1) polymer-coated glass embolic microspheres to facilitate drug-delivery and (2) polymer-blend embolic microspheres. Dr. Brooks' research team at Dalhousie University will investigate advanced manufacturing techniques for the development of a suitable polymer-coating for the glass microspheres and new polymer-blends for synthesizing radiopaque embolic microspheres.