Biomimetic Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine

Date: 11/12/2013
Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Location: 121 Snell Library
Speaker: Dr. Ennio Tasciotti, Director, Spine Advanced Technology Lab, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute

Biomimetic Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine

Progress in cancer treatment has been limited by the absence of effective approaches to achieve selective delivery of drugs to the tumor while sparing other tissues. This disconnect is rooted in the inefficient delivery of imaging and therapeutic agents to the tumor site upon systemic delivery. It is possible to modulate the behavior of biological barriers to our advantage without disrupting them and that nanoparticles can be engineer to interact with their living counterpart’s not through physical means but speaking their same language, following their same molecular codes, cellular pathways and physiologic regulation. Our experience in the field of biomimetic materials for drug delivery has addressed many aspects of particle synthesis and modification (coating and assembly), escape from the lysosomal pathways (intracellular and intercellular trafficking mechanisms, reduced opsonization and phagocytosis and increased endothelial penetration (through the mimicking of cell behavior). Similarly, tissue engineering holds the promise of improving the outcome of many chronic conditions through advances in biomimetic materials. With the advent of nanodelivery platforms and nanostructured scaffolds, the regenerative potential of stem cells can be now harnessed to its full extent. Biomaterials developed and characterized for use in tissue engineering include implantable constructs with high regenerative potential and injectable formulations containing cells and tunable nanoparticles for the controlled delivery of biomolecules. I will give an overview of our experience in the design of implantable vs. injectable materials, synthetic vs natural polymers, and on the effect of mechanical properties for the enhancement of stem cell function.

Supporting Literature: Parodi, Alessandro, Martinez, Jonathan O, Brown, Brandon S, Khaled, Sm Z., Yazdi, Iman K., Victoria Enzo, Maria, Isenhart, Lucas, Ferrari, Mauro, Tasciotti, Ennio. “Biomimetic Camouflage Imparts Cell-Like Functions to Synthetic Particles.” Nature Nanotechnology. DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2012.212

Tasciotti, E., Liu, X., Bhavane, R., Plant, K., Leonard, A., Price, B.K., Cheng, M., Decuzzi, P., Tour, J., Robertson, F., and Ferrari, M. “Mesoporous silicon particles as a multistage delivery system for imaging and therapeutic applications.” Nature Nanotechnology. 2008 Mar; 3(3):151-7. Epub 2008 Mar 2. (Cover Story) DOI:10.1038/nnano.2008.34.

Godin, B., Tasciotti, E., Liu, X., Serda, R.E., Ferrari, M. “Multistage Nanovectors: From Concept to Novel Imaging Contrast Agents and Therapeutics.” Acc Chem Res. 2011 Sep 8; 44 (10), pp 979–989.

Jonathan O. Martinez, Brandon S. Brown, Mauro Ferrari, Ennio Tasciotti “Multifunctional to multistage delivery systems: The evolution of nanoparticles for biomedical application” Chinese Science Bulletin. 2012 Volume 57, Issue 31 3961-3971

Martinez, Jonathan O, Boada, Christian, Yazd, Iman K., Evangelopoulous, Brown, Brandon S., Liu, Xuewu, Ferrari, Mauro and Tasciotti, Ennio. “Short and Long term, In Vitro and In Vivo Correlates of Cellular and Tissue Response to Mesoporous Silicon Nanovectors.” Small. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201201939

Murphy, M.B., Blashki, D., Buchanan, R.M., Fan, Weiner, B.K., Simmons, P.J., Ferrari, M., Tasciotti, E. “Multi-composite Bioactive Osteogenic Sponges featuring Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Platelet-rich Plasma, Nanoporous Silicon Enclosures, and Peptide Amphiphiles for Rapid Bone Regeneration” Journal of Functional Biomaterials. 2(2), (2011) 39-66.

Murphy, B., Matthew, Blashki, Daniel, Buchanan, M., Rachel, Yazdi, K., Iman, Ferrari, Mauro, Simmons, J., Paul, Tasciotti, Ennio. “Adult and umbilical cord blood-derived platelet-rich plasma for mesenchymal stem cell proliferation, chemotaxis, and cryo-preservation.” Biomaterials. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.04.007/JBMT_13974

Fan, D., De Rosa, E., Murphy, M.B., Peng, Y., Smid, C.A., Chiappini, C., Liu, X., Simmons, P., Weiner, B.K., Ferrari, M., and Tasciotti, E. “Mesoporous Silicon-PLGA Composite Microspheres for the Double Controlled Release of Biomolecules for Orthopedic Tissue Engineering.” Advanced Functional Materials. 19 Oct 2011.