Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Healthcare Biomaterials

The Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Healthcare Biomaterials aims to develop new biomaterials and nanotechnologies for a variety of medical applications, including diagnosis, bioimaging, controlled drug delivery and regenerative medicine. We look at both fundamental and applied questions in the cross-disciplinary fields of biomaterials, nanomaterials and medicine in order to develop novel therapeutic methods for the treatment of cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease and many other conditions and diseases. One specific goal is to develop multifunctional polymeric nanoparticles for medical applications, including drug-delivery mechanisms and regenerative medicine, such as the development of targeted nanoparticles to deliver therapies to the brain. Another major thrust of our work involves developing synthetic biomaterials and processing techniques to fabricate hydrogels and scaffolds with degradable and biocompatible properties for use in drug delivery and tissue engineering. In particular, we focus on biomaterial engineering to understand structure- function relationships and to investigate the effects of biomaterial characteristics on the deployment of therapies and on cell and tissue interactions.