(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)
Biomedical engineering researchers are exploring a novel treatment for alcohol-related liver disease using nanoparticles a thousand times smaller than a human hair. Despite this significant impact on society, alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) remains largely unaddressed by medical research. A researcher aims to change that with a promising new therapy that she’s developing.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)
A nanoparticle vaccine designed to fight cancers induced by human papillomavirus (HPV) eradicated tumors in an animal model of late-stage metastatic disease. The findings could ultimately lead to a new type of vaccine that would be used to treat a variety of cancers. To develop a therapeutic vaccine against HPV-related cancers, researchers combined a polymer and a small-molecule drug that both activate stimulator of interferon genes (STING) – a protein that triggers immune activity – with a protein antigen called E7 derived from HPV. Together, these components formed nanoparticles about 25-30 nanometers in diameter (for comparison, 1 million nanometers equal 1 millimeter).

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)
A child diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder has been successfully treated with a customized CRISPR gene editing therapy by a team of researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine. The researchers targeted the infant’s specific variant of a gene that codes for an enzyme in the liver that converts ammonia to urea (which is later excreted in urine). The researchers designed and manufactured a gene-editing therapy delivered via lipid nanoparticles to the liver in order to correct the infant’s faulty enzyme. As of April, the infant had received three doses of the therapy with no serious side effects.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)
Northwestern Medicine investigators have developed first-of-its-kind eyedrops that use synthetic nanoparticles to help the eye regenerate cells that have been damaged by exposure to mustard gas, which has been historically used during wartime. These nanoparticles were designed to mimic some properties of high-density lipoproteins, which are naturally found in the bloodstream and can help the body regulate inflammation. The investigators tested the eyedrops on mice and discovered that the eyedrops not only reduced inflammation in the eyes of the mice but also restored cells that are responsible for maintaining and regenerating the cornea’s epithelium.

(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed silk iron microparticles and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and then chemically bonded the silk microparticles with the nanoparticles. The microparticles were designed to deliver drugs to sites in the body, and the drugs were towed by the microparticles like a trailer is towed by a car. “You can think of it like towing cargo – we created the [micro]particles to carry drugs, and the nanoparticles are the tow hook,” said Mostafa Bedewy, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Now that the researchers have found a way to magnetically guide the silk microparticles with the nanoparticles, the next step will be to load them with therapeutic cargo. This research opens the door to a wide range of future applications – from targeted cancer therapies to regenerative treatments for cardiovascular disease.