Events
SEMS PDRA-PhD seminars: Davide Carta and Carlos Neri
Date: Tuesday 4 June 2024 12:00 - 12:30
Location: SEMS Seminar Room, 3rd floor, Engineering Building
Title: Organ-on-a-Chip, Outer Blood-Retinal Barrier
Summary: The talk outlines a research project centred on engineering retinal vascularisation on a chip to simulate pathological events in eye diseases and propose a model to evaluate the impact of modulator drugs. The project specifically targets the posterior vasculature of the eye, with an emphasis on the outer Blood-Retina Barrier (oBRB) and pathologies related to its disruption, as Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Its characterization follows cell alignment, permeability and key protein expression. By leveraging advanced bioengineering techniques, the goal is to create a realistic and functional model of the eye's vasculature to improve understanding and treatment of eye diseases.
About the Speaker 1: Davide Carta
Title: Engineering Strategies to RNA Delivery by Surface-Initiated Polymer Brushes
Summary: The absorption mechanisms of nucleic acid materials to surface-initiated poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) brushes have been shown to vary in a size and type-dependent manner, with short RNA molecules infiltrating deeply through the brush, while large therapeutics such as mRNA only partially infiltrating, and potentially experiencing reduced protection against degradation. For instance, siRNA has been demonstrated to be absorbed particularly stably through unique highly dense polymer brushes enabling high binding capacities with sustained delivery and prolonged knock down (KD) efficiencies. In contrast, hindered absorption of mRNA by densely crowded polymer chains typically requires reduced brush densities to enhance stabilisation, as observed for plasmid DNA. Whether delivering short or large therapeutics, polycationic-based gene delivery complexes still need to overcome the competitive binding events associated with the formation of biomolecular coronas or interactomes in blood and the cytosol. Such mechanisms have been proposed to contribute to their limited stability leading to decomplexation and/or clearance, compromising their therapeutic effect.
Surface-initiated polymer brushes offer an attractive and readily adaptable strategy to engineer tailored-made structures for RNA stabilisation and delivery, facilitating the systematic study of complex mechanisms in gene therapy applications.
About the Speaker 2: Carlos Eduardo Neri Cruz