Developing better diagnostic tests for cardiovascular disease diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment
Developing better diagnostic tests for cardiovascular disease diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment
Atherosclerosis is the dominant cause of cardiovascular disease. Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs)—such as balloon angioplasty and coronary stents—have revolutionized the effective management of atherosclerosis and its symptoms. However, a new disease process, termed restenosis, is the major complication that occurs after PCIs and results in re-narrowing of the blood vessel. The effective prevention of restenosis among patients is an important problem in the management of cardiovascular disease—with many health, economic, and policy implications. Important regulators of blood clotting have been implicated in the effects on restenosis on blood vessels, contributing to vessel degradation and vessel wall closure.
My research is focused on developing novel “nanosensors” to enable continuous monitoring of blood clotting factors in a flow chamber system. The goal is to design a blood diagnostic platform that allows for fewer, less frequent, and less invasive blood draws for patients. We are currently testing this system with artificial human serum made in the laboratory. In the future, blood can be drawn from patients and added to the chamber. We can then monitor the appearance of clotting factors continuously over long periods of time, eliminating the need for frequent blood sampling. The resolution provided by this approach will enable the direct correlation of clotting initiation to the development of clotting malfunctions in restenosis patients. This quantitative association will serve as a predictive measure for the propensity to develop restenosis following PCIs. The information obtained from the study will not only provide a useful tool to advance our understanding of restenosis, but will also provide a basis for the development of nanoscale diagnostic reagents.
A) A single channel of a perfusion chamber system for blood sample testing. B) “Nanosensors” to detect clotting factors in the channel. C) An overlaid image of the channel walls and nanosensors residing in the channel. Artificial serum is allowed to flow through the chamber, and nanosensors can quantitatively detect different amounts of clotting factors added to the serum.