Marie-Christine Daniel, UMBC Chemistry and Biochemistry

TITLE: Gold Nanoparticles Preparation and their Functionalization for Biomedical Applications

ABSTRACT: Gold nanoparticle (GNP) platforms possess unique properties for imaging and therapeutic functions and are therefore valuable in diagnosis, drug delivery and the monitoring of disease progression.

Using GNPs, one of the main project in our group is to simultaneously target two different and synergistic therapeutic agents to tumors, and monitor the therapeutic response in real-time by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This approach has the advantage of decreasing hemotherapeutic dose, toxicity and drug resistance while increasing treatment efficiency. GNPs functionalized with derivatized polypropylene imine (PPI) dendrons, are modified at the termini with targeting, imaging and two different therapeutic moieties, all of which are chosen based upon the type of cancer that is to be targeted.

Another lead project in our group aims at monitoring cardiovascular diseases. For this purpose, GNPs have been used as contrast agent for X-ray CT imaging of an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). The overexpression of ACE has consistently been associated with increased risk of heart failure, especially in cases where there has been an earlier myocardial infarction. Since Lisinopril is an ACE inhibitor, we have been using it as the targeting agent, and its conjugation to GNPs creates a valuable probe for monitoring ACE expression as a function of disease progression.

A third project that was recently initiated consists in creating reporter agents for the detection of protein-protein interactions, ultimately in vivo. Indeed, only 15% of protein-protein interactions are known, and these interactions are key steps to many biological phenomena. Thus, we are developing protein-protein interaction reporters for a non-invasive imaging technique such as small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). This could become an important tool for understanding diseases at the molecular level.