Group Website: http://www.littlelab.pitt.edu/
Researchers in the Little Labs seek to develop new and innovative
medical treatments by mimicking living cells, tissues, and organs
through engineering principles. Specifically, current research relates
to the rational design and fabrication of drug delivery systems from
nanoparticles, microparticles, hollow fibers, gels, and coatings. This
is accomplished using some of the first mathematical models capable of
predicting controlled release from systems composed of biodegradable
polymers using simple parameters such as polymer chemistry, fabrication,
and drug type from proteins, to peptides, to DNA, to small molecules.
Further, surface modification is being used through microfabrication and
nanotechnology to produce synthetic cells and tissues that can
communicate like living biological entities. In this way, researchers
in the Little Labs aim to produce “medicine that imitates life”. This
work has application to the fields of regenerative medicine (tissue
engineering, battlefield wounds), immunotherapy (vaccines, HIV, infant
immunizations), cancer, autoimmunity, transplantation, and most
recently, periodontal disease.