PROMOTING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN INDIA AND THE U.S.
Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Research Interests: brain drug delivery, blood-brain barrier engineering, biopharmaceutical design, protein engineering
We are also interested in developing in vitro models of the BBB that accurately mimic the in vivo characteristics of the BBB. An in vitro BBB model would permit the combinatorial screening of drug candidates and drug-targeting strategies, a process that is not amenable to an in vivo system. When the endothelial cells that make up the BBB are cultured in vitro, however, changes in gene and protein expression occur thereby altering the permeability characteristics and integrity of the in vitro model. We have investigated these changes using genomics and proteomics techniques in an attempt to understand how gene and protein expression must be modulated to yield properties representative of the in vivo BBB. We are working to leverage this information for the development of novel in vitro models that possess more in vivo-like qualities. To this end, we have recently deployed pluripotent stem cell technology to model the human BBB in health and disease. In addition to being able to predict drug permeability at the BBB, we are using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell technology to study the NVU in brain disease and identify antibodies capable of brain drug delivery.