Biomimetic chip platforms for studying drug delivery system
Nanomedicine has attracted significant interest in the past decades. By virtue of its advantages from a therapeutic standpoint, such as desired encapsulation capability, controlled drug release, prolonged circulation time, and targeted delivery, etc, nanomedicine can significantly impact human disease therapy. However, despite these advantages and extensive efforts, the translation of nanomedicine into clinical applications has been less impressive. One of the most critical challenges is the lack of proper pre-clinical model that can mimic in vivo conditions and predict the performance of the nanoparticles within human body. Microfluidics provides significant advantages over conventional methods for cell and tissue culture through mimicking structures and networks at the micrometer length scale comparable to relevant physiological length scales, and by incorporating fluid flows and mechanical forces capable of mimicking the in vivo microenvironment. This project aims to develop biomimetic chip platforms for investigating the interactions between nanoparticles and biological systems. The platform technology developed in this project will provide a tremendous opportunity for robust preclinical screening models.