UROP Project
Engineering extracellular vesicles to treat neurological disorders
extracellular vesicles, chimeric antigen receptor, three-dimensional, organoids
Research Mentor: Dr. Yan Li,
Department, College, Affiliation: Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: yli4@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Department, College, Affiliation: Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: yli4@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: IRCB, 2001 Levy Ave
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, During business hours
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: IRCB, 2001 Levy Ave
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, During business hours
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable
Project Description
Treating neurological conditions continues to present a challenge to therapeutics development. The blood- brain barrier, a multicellular structure that regulates chemical transport into neural tissue, prevents the diffusion of polar compounds into the brain. This introduces a new design constraint to therapeutic development. Stem cell therapy has been proposed as a highly effective treatment for neurological conditions but requires invasive delivery to treat neural diseases. However, stem cells also secrete therapeutic factors that can be administered via less invasive routes. Extracellular vesicles, or EVs, are cell- secreted, membrane-bound nanoparticles that help mediate paracrine signaling by carrying proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. In addition, their display of transport- facilitating proteins on their outer surface allows them to be transported across biological membranes such as the blood- brain barrier. This study focuses on EV engineering using various methods, analyzing changes in cargo, uptake, and resulting bioactive properties across several disease models.Research Tasks: literature review, data collection, data analysis
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Literature reading, biology background