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Project

RBC hitchhiking for targeted delivery to preterm lungs

Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease with
persistent difficulty breathing and abnormal lung developmental
changes that leads to lifelong complications, and in some sever
cases to clinically significant morbidities and mortality. BPD is caused
by premature birth with 67.3% of chance of developing the disease in
infants born at 22-25 weeks gestatinal age, and 36.6% at 26-30
weeks. In Belgium alone 7% of babies are born prematurely putting
them at high risk for developing BPD. Despite the milestones taken in
treating the disease, BPD remains a severe complication of extreme
prematurity that pauses a social and financial burden on the patient,
their family and society overall. Therefore, the development of novel,
more targeted and effective therapeutic approaches is paramount. a
novel multidisciplinary method, encompassing the intrinsic properties
of biological systems (monocytes), to deliver FDA-approved
therapeutic agents (dexamethasone) to BPD lungs. By incorporating
dexamethasone into poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) PLGA NPs and
coupling these drug loaded-NMs to monocytes, we will study the
efficacy of the homing of these cells to the inflamed tissues and look
into the different parameters that govern efficient delivery of bioactive
molecules to inflamed tissues.

Date:15 Jul 2019 →  15 Jul 2023
Keywords:Nanomedicine, Respiratory medicine, Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
Disciplines:Respiratory medicine not elsewhere classified
Project type:PhD project