Using Humanized Organ-on-a-chip and Nanoparticle Technologies to Develop Novel Treatments for Pulmonary Disorders
Abstract: The global COVID19 pandemic has highlighted the lethality and morbidity associated with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS occurs when bacterial/viral infections cause excessive lung inflammation, pulmonary edema and severe hypoxemia (shortness of breath) and often requires mechanical ventilation (MV). Unfortunately, the mechanical forces generated during ventilation exacerbates lung injury and inflammation and lead to high mortality rates. Our group has used a novel combination of in-vitro organ-on-a-chip modeling, in-silico computational modeling and in-vivo animal and human studies to identify the biomechanical mechanisms responsible for ventilation induced lung injury (VILI). I will specifically describe how computational mechanics approaches led to novel cytoskeletal based therapies for VILI and how coupling in-vitro and in-vivo mechanobiology studies lead to the discovery of innate gene regulatory mechanisms that minimize VILI. I will also describe how our lab is currently using nanotechnology approaches to design gene delivery platforms that can boost the lung’s native regulatory responses and thereby significantly reduce VILI during ARDS.
Bio: Samir Ghadiali is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering with join appointments in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Ohio State University and the OSU Wexner Medical Center. Dr. Ghadiali is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Fellows of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a Parker B. Francis Fellow in Pulmonary Research and a recipient of the NSF Career Award and the Lumley Interdisciplinary Research Award. Prior to joining OSU, he was the Frank Hook Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Lehigh University where he helped found a new undergraduate bioengineering degree program and he has mentored over 35 pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees who have gone on to successful academic, industrial and research careers.
