Mechano-responsive cardiovascular nano-therapeutics

The cardiovascular system is a highly dynamic system that is tightly regulated under normal conditions. Under pathological conditions, cardiovascular disease sites may be characterized by an abnormal mechanical environment. Leveraging such an abnormality, we developed mechano-responsive drug carriers that utilizes the high shear stress in regions of artery stenosis as a means to selectively deliver target drugs to these disease sites. So far, we have utilized this approach to efficiently deliver a thrombolytic drug to dissolve clots at sites of stenosis. In order to rationally design such carriers, we use in silico/in vitro microfluidic models, as well as real size arterial models, which emulate vascular stenosis conditions and allow us to study the behaviour of nano-medicines under relevant dynamic conditions.. Altogether, our work illustrates how quantitative bio-engineering approaches can be used to design and develop novel cardiovascular nano-therapeutics.