Development of and Transport Through a Microfluidic Blood-Brain Barrier
View/ Open
NOWAK-DISSERTATION-2019.pdf (10.44Mb)
Access Status
Full text of the requested work is not available in DASH at this time ("dark deposit"). For more information on dark deposits, see our FAQ.Author
Nowak, Maksymilian A.
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Nowak, Maksymilian A. 2019. Development of and Transport Through a Microfluidic Blood-Brain Barrier. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.Abstract
Diseases of the brain and central nervous system are perhaps the most devastating and difficult to treat class of ailments in existence. While nothing can change their impact, therapies could be substantially improved in a number of ways. One major factor hindering progress in this area is the difficulty of crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Even though substantial research has been conducted in this area, the lack of clinical successes indicates that there is a marked need for better models to study transport across the BBB, ones that are simultaneously more representative than traditional in vitro models but also more accessible than complex and dynamic in vitro or in vivo models. To fill this niche, we developed the µHuB, which is well-suited for investigating numerous aspects of the BBB and transport through it.In the first section of this thesis, we discuss the general principles of drug delivery to the brain and specifically through the BBB. Next, we survey existing models of the BBB, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, as well as identifying some of the key insights that they have been used to gain. After a summary of the rationale and design choices made for the µHuB, we detail its development and validation. Section 3 discusses the details of measuring transport of a simple macromolecule through the µHuB and the insight such measurements can provide. We then utilize the µHuB to investigate the influence of nanoparticle physical properties on their ability to cross the BBB, which is to our knowledge the first such investigation reported to date. Finally, we investigate the suitability of the µHuB to study cell-mediated delivery to the brain.
Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42013154
Collections
- FAS Theses and Dissertations [5435]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)