A University of Texas at Arlington bioengineer is main a undertaking that can develop biodegradable nanomaterials that can take footage and ship medication to fight peripheral arterial illness (PAD).
Kytai Nguyen, a UT Arlington bioengineering professor, is the principal investigator within the four-year, $2.1 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant. She’s collaborating with Jian Yang, a Penn State University bioengineering professor and former UTA school member, and Ralph Mason, a professor of radiology at UT Southwestern.
What’s essential on this undertaking is that the expertise carries fluorescent and ultrasound imaging capabilities, which is able to present sufferers and medical doctors with extra detailed info. It additionally offers sufferers extra focused medication, making it extra environment friendly.”
Kytai Nguyen, UT Arlington bioengineering professor
PAD, extra generally often called both atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, is a situation generally discovered within the aged. It impacts greater than 200 million folks worldwide and is related to excessive charges of morbidity and mortality.
The analysis goals to develop novel biodegradable nanoparticles to ship therapeutic brokers that particularly shield cells below stress circumstances, facilitate the formation of blood vessels below hypoxia and permit noninvasive multimodal imaging strategies.
One affect of the analysis is to make use of these new nanoparticle platforms to ship any therapeutics domestically, deal with the illness successfully and monitor the remedy noninvasively by imaging. The total objective is to cut back problems and enhance the standard of life for PAD sufferers, Nguyen mentioned.
Michael Cho, chair of the UT Arlington Bioengineering Department, mentioned Nguyen’s revolutionary analysis may enormously assist those that reside with PAD.
“This cutting-edge expertise has an opportunity to alter our protocols on easy methods to cope with atherosclerosis,” Cho mentioned. “When you’ll be able to goal localized lesions for remedy, that’s so significantly better for the sufferers and far much less invasive than present remedy.”
Nguyen, who has been at UT Arlington since 2005, acquired Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas grants in 2010, 2016, and 2021. She additionally has acquired funding via the NIH, National Science Foundation, American Heart Association, and U.S. departments of Education and Defense, amongst others.
She is a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors, a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a member of the UTA Academy of Distinguished Scholars, a fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering and a fellow of the American Heart Association.
Source:
University of Texas at Arlington