In a recently published review by Prof. Ki-Bum Lee and his team at CCB (https://kblee.rutgers.edu/), an extensive analysis of the advancements and key challenges in the field of inorganic materials for theragnostic applications in the CNS was provided. In the first part of this review, they introduced key challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. In this section, they aimed to prime the readers from fields of material science, chemistry, and bioengineering with current limitations in CNS treatment, such as overcoming biological barriers [i.e., the blood-brain barrier (BBB)], and diagnosis, such as neurodegenerative diseases having to progress to a more advanced stage prior to manifesting in behavioral changes. They then addressed the dimensionality of nanomaterials and the important qualities that the various nanomaterials described may impart. This was shortly followed by a discussion on toxicity and other factors before selecting the substance of interest. The team hopes to inspire precise and rational design choices in the reader when developing future theragnostic platforms. The rest of the review focuses on the use of these inorganic nanomaterials for the therapeutic modulation and diagnosis of neural disorders, probing neuronal stimulation and differentiation, and promoting guided differentiation of supporting cells for therapeutic applications. In this manner, the readers could easily understand how targeted, spatio-temporal, and biomimetic nanomaterials could be used in therapeutic applications and leveraged in the sensitive detection of molecules within the CNS. In these sections, the reader also learns how nanoparticles can be used to study cellular mechanisms using optogenetics, and how different nanomaterial substrates can control cell fate and reduce neuroinflammation by using the most interesting articles as case studies to explain these mechanisms.
In short, by providing current knowledge and applications of theragnostic nanomaterials in applications for the CNS, this newly published review article aims to engage several crucial fields pertinent to material science, neuroscience, and bioengineering into dialogue for better development of theragnostic systems.
PAPER TITLE: Advanced Theragnostics for the Central Nervous System (CNS) and Neurological Disorders Using Functional Inorganic Nanomaterials
PUBLICATION: Conklin, B., Conley, B. M., Hou, Y., Chen. M., & Lee, K. B. (2022). Advanced Theragnostics for the Central Nervous System (CNS) and Neurological Disorders Using Functional Inorganic Nanomaterials. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 114636
KBLEE Group Team: Dr. Letao Yang, Dr. Brian Conley, Dr. Christopher Rathnam, Dr. Thanapat Pongkulapa, Brandon Conklin, Yannan Hou, https://kblee.rutgers.edu/
Group Members
