Retinal diseases lead to partial or complete loss of vision to millions of people throughout the world and causing economic stress on healthcare systems. In the United States alone, there are approximately 14 million cases per year and is likely to increase further as the average lifespan increases. Although the causes of these disorders are multiple and complex, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered to play a central role. Rare earth metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have shown promise as a therapeutic agent to scavenge these ROS responsible for retinal degeneration. However the current understanding of the biological interaction of these NPs with cells and tissue is limited and the correlation of this with thematerial chemistry, size and surface properties is necessary to ensure safe clinical usage. The proposed collaborative research between University of Central Florida (UCF) and University of Oklahoma (OU) will address the basic scientific aspects involved in engineering active NPs for SOD mimetics and therapeutic applications and evaluate its effectiveness as novel antioxidants in preventing the death of photoreceptor cells in a living animal model. The results should lead to therapies which will prolong the functional life of neurons and tissues in multiple diseases which currently afflict many people
The Team
PI: Sudipta Seal
Professor, AMPAC and Engineering & Office of Research
University of Central Florida
Sudipta.Seal@ucf.edu
Co-PI: William T. Self
Assistant Professor, UCF Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology
University of Central Florida
wself@ucf.edu
Co-PI: Artëm E. Masunov
Assistant Professor, Nanoscience Technology Center, Department of Chemistry, and Department of Physics
University of Central Florida
amasunov@ucf.edu
Co-PI: James F. McGinnis
Professor, Department of Ophtalmology and Cell Biology, College of Medicine
University of Oklahoma, Health Sciences Center
james-mcginnis@ouhsc.edu
News
Telecon Meeting is scheduled for Jan. 23, 2009, 10am
Publications
Vincent, A., Babu, S., Heckert, E, Dowding, J., Hirst, S., Inerbaev, T., Self, W., Reilly, C. Masunov, A., and Seal, S. Protonated nanoparticle surface governing ligand tethering and cellular targeting. ACS Nano; Submited 2009
Babu, S., Thanneeru, R., Inerbaev, T., Day, R., Masunov, A.E, Schulte, A. and Seal, S. Dopant mediated oxygen vacancy tuning in ceria nanoparticle. Nanotechnology; Accepted 2008
Teblum A., Iordanova N, Seal S., Masunov A.E. Theoretical Investigation of Reactive Oxygen Species Deactivation on the Surface of Ceria Nanoparticle. J. Catalysis. ; In preparation.
Thanneeru, R. K., Patil, S., Babu, S., Seal, S., Guo, Y., Schulte, A., Day, R., Inerbaev, T., Masunov, A.E. Positive and negative lattice modulation in nanoceria: An insight into tuning defects and surface chemistry in nanoparticles. Appl. Phys. Lett.; Submitted 2008