Category Archives: Nano Medicine

May 31st, 2015 Filed under Urology Research Tagged beaumont, bladder, chinese, education, health, inter-, interstim, ministrelli, spinal, united, urology Comments Off on Urology Research William Beaumont Hospital

Urology research at Beaumont Hospitals is on the cutting edge of clinical practice, aimed at bringing innovative research protocols to patient care, advancing the treatment of disease, improving patient outcomes and enhancing their quality of life. Known as a leader in the field, the department is involved in several innovative studies including interstitial cystitis, urinary incontinence and the prostate gland.

Research projects concentrate on developing novel treatments for urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, pelvic pain, prostate cancer, female reconstructive surgery and neurogenic bladder. These translational and clinical studies along with sponsored pharmaceutical and equipment/device trials offer the opportunity to treat disease states that traditional therapies fail to address. Funded through grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), philanthropy including the Ministrelli Program for Urology Research and Education (MPURE), and industry contracts, Beaumont physicians serve as the principal investigators in these national and international trials.

Studies on neuro-urology and incontinence identify and utilize novel therapies such as neuromodulation and nerve re-routing to treat men, women and children who have voiding problems demonstrated to be refractory to standard therapies.

Beaumont Hospitals launched a research study to rewire nerves in the spinal cord in the hope of giving bladder control to people with spinal cord injury or spina bifida who otherwise depend on self-catheterization to urinate. The first procedure garnered national attention and appeared in more than 160 news outlets including U.S.News and World Report, The Washington Post and Forbes. Beaumont is the only institution in the United States to perform this procedure and also provide funding for all the associated costs.

The research at Beaumont uses nerve rerouting to redirect nerves in the spinal cord to gain better control of urination. After the procedure, patients signal the bladder to urinate by scratching or pinching their leg or buttocks. The Chinese doctor who developed the surgery, Chuan-Guo Xiao, M.D., reports an almost 90-percent success rate. The average time it took to see results was 12 to 24 months after surgery, with patients in China reporting better urinary control and improvements in their bowel function.

Beaumont Hospital urologists are first in the United States to research stress urinary incontinence treatment using a persons own stem cells. The stem cells are used to strengthen weak muscles that control urination. If successful, (autologous) muscle-derived stem cell therapy could offer new hope to people and offer them a life free of urinary leakage, says Dr. Peters, who is leading the research at Beaumont. Stress urinary incontinence the cause of wetness with coughing or physical activity affects about 13 million Americans, most of them women, but also men who have had a prostatectomy (surgery for prostate cancer). Current treatments, including medicine, exercises and surgery, are not always effective and may have undesirable side effects. The stem cells from 48 female research participants age 18 or older will be collected at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, and duplicated. The cells will then be injected into the muscles that control urination to strengthen them and prevent leakage.

Participation will last 12-14 months, and will include physical exams, procedures to assess the bladder, completing voiding diaries and questionnaires and a variety of diagnostic tests. A small sample of the participants thigh muscle will be collected, which is the source of the stem cells. Pregnant or nursing women may not participate.

The InterStim a pacemaker-like device used for urinary frequency, urgency and incontinence, is showing promise for treatment of interstitial cystitis symptoms. With the InterStim Therapy, manufactured by Medtronic, Inc., a small electrode is placed adjacent to the sacral nerve. The electrode is externalized and patients monitor their urinary urgency, frequency and pain for two weeks. If the symptoms are at least 50 percent improved, the stopwatch-size power generator is implanted in the upper part of the buttock. The generator is then connected to the previously-placed lead. When the generator produces a small electrical pulse, it stimulates the sacral nerve, helping to control the bladder, sphincter and pelvic floor.

In addition to stimulating the sacral nerve, Urology chairman Kenneth Peters, M.D., is conducting a research study looking at pudendal nerve stimulation using the InterStim device. Thirty subjects were implanted with both sacral and pudendal nerve electrodes. Patients tested each electrode in a blinded fashion. Seventy nine percent of subjects chose the pudendal lead as superior for treating their voiding dysfunction.

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Nano Medicine

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http://www.futuremedicine.com

Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology.[1] Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials, to nanoelectronic biosensors, and even possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology. Current problems for nanomedicine involve understanding the issues related to toxicity and environmental impact of nanoscale materials (materials whose structure is on the scale of nanometers, i.e. billionths of a meter).

Functionalities can be added to nanomaterials by interfacing them with biological molecules or structures. The size of nanomaterials is similar to that of most biological molecules and structures; therefore, nanomaterials can be useful for both in vivo and in vitro biomedical research and applications. Thus far, the integration of nanomaterials with biology has led to the development of diagnostic devices, contrast agents, analytical tools, physical therapy applications, and drug delivery vehicles.

Nanomedicine seeks to deliver a valuable set of research tools and clinically useful devices in the near future.[2][3] The National Nanotechnology Initiative expects new commercial applications in the pharmaceutical industry that may include advanced drug delivery systems, new therapies, and in vivo imaging.[4] Nanomedicine research is receiving funding from the US National Institutes of Health, including the funding in 2005 of a five-year plan to set up four nanomedicine centers.

Nanomedicine is a large industry, with nanomedicine sales reaching $6.8 billion in 2004, and with over 200 companies and 38 products worldwide, a minimum of $3.8 billion in nanotechnology R&D is being invested every year.[5] In April 2006, the journal Nature Materials estimated that 130 nanotech-based drugs and delivery systems were being developed worldwide.[6] As the nanomedicine industry continues to grow, it is expected to have a significant impact on the economy.

Nanotechnology has provided the possibility of delivering drugs to specific cells using nanoparticles.

The overall drug consumption and side-effects may be lowered significantly by depositing the active agent in the morbid region only and in no higher dose than needed. Targeted drug delivery is intended to reduce the side effects of drugs with concomitant decreases in consumption and treatment expenses. Drug delivery focuses on maximizing bioavailability both at specific places in the body and over a period of time. This can potentially be achieved by molecular targeting by nanoengineered devices.[7][8] More than $65 billion are wasted each year due to poor bioavailability.[citation needed] A benefit of using nanoscale for medical technologies is that smaller devices are less invasive and can possibly be implanted inside the body, plus biochemical reaction times are much shorter. These devices are faster and more sensitive than typical drug delivery.[9] The efficacy of drug delivery through nanomedicine is largely based upon: a) efficient encapsulation of the drugs, b) successful delivery of drug to the targeted region of the body, and c) successful release of the drug.[citation needed]

Drug delivery systems, lipid- [10] or polymer-based nanoparticles,[11] can be designed to improve the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of the drug.[12][13][14] However, the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of nanomedicine is highly variable among different patients.[15] When designed to avoid the body's defence mechanisms,[16] nanoparticles have beneficial properties that can be used to improve drug delivery. Complex drug delivery mechanisms are being developed, including the ability to get drugs through cell membranes and into cell cytoplasm. Triggered response is one way for drug molecules to be used more efficiently. Drugs are placed in the body and only activate on encountering a particular signal. For example, a drug with poor solubility will be replaced by a drug delivery system where both hydrophilic and hydrophobic environments exist, improving the solubility.[17] Drug delivery systems may also be able to prevent tissue damage through regulated drug release; reduce drug clearance rates; or lower the volume of distribution and reduce the effect on non-target tissue. However, the biodistribution of these nanoparticles is still imperfect due to the complex host's reactions to nano- and microsized materials[16] and the difficulty in targeting specific organs in the body. Nevertheless, a lot of work is still ongoing to optimize and better understand the potential and limitations of nanoparticulate systems. While advancement of research proves that targeting and distribution can be augmented by nanoparticles, the dangers of nanotoxicity become an important next step in further understanding of their medical uses.[18]

Nanoparticles can be used in combination therapy for decreasing antibiotic resistance or for their antimicrobial properties.[19][20][21] Nanoparticles might also used to circumvent multidrug resistance (MDR) mechanisms.[22]

Two forms of nanomedicine that have already been tested in mice and are awaiting human trials that will be using gold nanoshells to help diagnose and treat cancer,[23] and using liposomes as vaccine adjuvants and as vehicles for drug transport.[24][25] Similarly, drug detoxification is also another application for nanomedicine which has shown promising results in rats.[26] Advances in Lipid nanotechnology was also instrumental in engineering medical nanodevices and novel drug delivery systems as well as in developing sensing applications.[27] Another example can be found in dendrimers and nanoporous materials. Another example is to use block co-polymers, which form micelles for drug encapsulation.[11]

Polymeric nano-particles are a competing technology to lipidic (based mainly on Phospholipids) nano-particles. There is an additional risk of toxicity associated with polymers not widely studied or understood. The major advantages of polymers is stability, lower cost and predictable characterisation. However, in the patient's body this very stability (slow degradation) is a negative factor. Phospholipids on the other hand are membrane lipids (already present in the body and surrounding each cell), have a GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe) status from FDA and are derived from natural sources without any complex chemistry involved. They are not metabolised but rather absorbed by the body and the degradation products are themselves nutrients (fats or micronutrients).

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Nanomedicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

IGERT HIGHLIGHT

NU IGERT Nanomedicine Program on YouTube!

Take a tour with three former IGERT trainees, Brian Plouffe, Tatyana Chernenko and Yogesh Patel, to hear about some of the outstanding research that is done in the IGERT Nanomedicine program at Northeastern.

MISSION

IGERT Nanomedicine Science and Technology is a new integrated doctoral education program in the emerging field of Nanomedicine, created with support from the National Cancer Institute and the National Science Foundation. The program aims to educate the next generation of scientists and technologists with the requisite skill sets to address scientific and engineering challenges, with the necessary business, ethical and global perspectives that will be needed in the rapidly emerging area of applying nanotechnology to human health.

The program began at Northeastern University in 2005 with an NSF IGERT grant funded through the National Cancer Institute. The success of the program has since then led to an NSF funded IGERT renewal grant for the period 2010-2015 with new partners, Tuskegee University, The University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez and collaborators at hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

The program combines the interdisciplinary expertise of world-renowned faculty members in 11 departments at 3 Universities, collaborating with researchers at teaching hospitals and industry. Students enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical/Industrial Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or Pharmaceutical Sciences (Northeastern University), Materials Science and Engineering or Integrative Biosciences (Tuskegee University), Applied Chemistry or Chemical Engineering (UPRM) may apply to the IGERT interdisciplinary program. The IGERT fellow will graduate with a Ph.D. degree in their core subject with specialization in Nanomedicine Science and Technology.

Download the IGERT Nanomedicine e-book summarizing the achievements of the Northeastern University IGERT Nanomedicine program

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IGERT Nanomedicine at Northeastern University

The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers some exciting possibilities. Some techniques are only imagined, while others are at various stages of testing, or actually being used today.

Nanotechnology in medicine involves applications of nanoparticles currently under development, as well as longer range research that involves the use of manufactured nano-robots to make repairs at the cellular level (sometimes referred to as nanomedicine).

Whatever you call it, the use of nanotechnology in the field of medicine could revolutionize the way we detect and treat damage to the human body and disease in the future, and many techniques only imagined a few years ago are making remarkable progress towards becoming realities.

One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allowsdirect treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease.

For example, nanoparticles that deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells are under development. Tests are in progress for targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs and their final approval for their use with cancer patients is pending. One company, CytImmune has published the results of a Phase 1 Clinical Trial of their first targeted chemotherapy drug and another company, BIND Biosciences, has published preliminary results of a Phase 1 Clinical Trial for their first targeted chemotherapy drug and is proceeding with a Phase 2 Clinical Trial.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstated that gelatin nanoparticles can be used to deliver drugs to damaged brain tissue.

Researchers at MIT using nanoparticles to deliver vaccine.The nanoparticles protect the vaccine, allowing the vaccine time to trigger a stronger immune response.

Reserchers are developing a method to release insulin that uses a sponge-like matrix that contains insulin as well as nanocapsules containing an enzyme. When the glucose level rises the nanocapsules release hydrogen ions, which bind to the fibers making up the matrix. The hydrogen ions make the fibers positively charged, repelling each other and creating openings in the matrix through which insulin is released.

Researchers are developing a nanoparticle that can be taken orally and pass through the lining of the intestines into the bloodsteam. This should allow drugs that must now be delivered with a shot to be taken in pill form.

Researchers are also developing a nanoparticle to defeat viruses. The nanoparticle does not actually destroy viruses molecules, but delivers an enzyme that prevents the reproduction of viruses molecules in the patients bloodstream.

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Nanotechnology in Medicine - Nanomedicine

Polymers in Nano-medicine (treating disease)
This video is part of my independent learning project for macromolecules for my first year at the University of York studying a masters in Chemistry. It is aimed at A-level students with no...

By: Benjamin Jancso

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Polymers in Nano-medicine (treating disease) - Video