Undergraduate Research Day 2025

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/33815

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    Nanogel-Based Drug Delivery: Tailoring BMP-2 Release for Bone Regeneration
    (2025) Umansky, Sophie; Mirdamadi, Eman; White, Cameron; Lowe, Hannah; Lowe, Tao
    Critical sized bone defects (CSBDs) do not heal spontaneously, requiring medical intervention. Continuous bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) delivery to an injured site is necessary for CSBD regeneration. However, direct BMP-2 delivery is ineffective due to the protein’s short half-life. Nanogels can be used to encapsulate and sustain bioactive BMP-2 release for long time periods. In this study, novel BMP-2 loaded nanogels composed of thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) and hydrolytically degradable dextran-poly(lactate (PLA)-2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate) or dextran-poly(caprolactone (PCL)-2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate) macromer were synthesized using emulsion polymerization. Macromers containing PCL or PLA with different degrees of substitution and degree of polymerization (DP/DS), 6/3.8, 6/2.49, 8/3.73 and 8/4.7 were used during synthesis. All nanogels load BMP-2 with approximately 90% encapsulation efficiencies, and range in hydrodynamic diameter between 80 and 196 nm with increasing DP and DS. In vitro BMP-2 release from the nanogels were carried out for 18 days, and released BMP-2 was quantified by ELISA. Among nanogels sustain releasing BMP-2, PCL macromer nanogels with a DP/DS of 6/3.8 had the slowest overall cumulative BMP-2 release, while BMP-2-loaded nanogels containing PLA macromers showed the slowest release with increasing DP and/or DS. Nanogel vehicle cytotoxicity to dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) was tested using MTT and showed that nanogels were not cytotoxic to DPSCs at concentrations up to 5mg/mL. Overall, the nanogel systems demonstrate a promising approach to sustain BMP-2 release with tailored release kinetics for CSBD regeneration.
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    Selective cleavage and measurement of mucin with proteases: treatment and diagnostic.
    (2025) Michels, Cadence; Wu, Louisa
    Airway epithelial mucus is a key component of pathogen clearance and immune response as mucin complexes entrap irritants within the mucus hydrogel and expel them through coughing. For mucus to successfully function, it requires a proper ratio of mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B within the hydrogel complex to form the ideal viscosity. The underlying pathology of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cystic fibrosis include significant overexpression of MUC5AC, causing highly viscous airway mucus and interfering with disease clearance and respiration. We explore the application of designed proteases to selectively cleave MUC5AC and restore the healthy mucin ratio in MUC5AC upregulated samples. Furthermore, we are investigating a protease-substrate complex that triggers the release of a fluorescent molecule as cleavage occurs as a possible diagnostic tool to measure concentrations of MUC5AC across samples.