Welcome to the DeLouise Lab
Engineering Smart Bio Nanomaterials for Diagnostic, Therapeutic and Investigative Studies of Skin Biology and Barrier Function
We manipulate materials on the micro, nano and molecular level scales to design biomedical devices for diagnostic, therapeutic and investigative studies of skin. Our multidisciplinary approach integrates experimental research and simulation to design devices that exploit the novel optical, morphological and surface chemical properties of nanostructured materials. Key focus areas include optical biosensing, microflulidic cell sorting and cell culture and nanoparticle skin penetration, skin imaging, translocation and targeted delivery.
Main project areas include:
1. Porous Silicon Senors and Bioactive Hydrogels
Synthesizing target responsive hydrogels and incorporating these into nanoporous silicon photonic band gap structures to design point of care optical biosensors. Such nanocomposite devices can be developed for Smart Bandage applications for treatment of chronic skin disorders, wound healing, tissue engineering and pathogen detection.
2. Applications of PDMS Microbubble Arrays
Exploiting silicon wafer fabrication technology and gas expansion molding (GEM) we have developed a novel PDMS microfluidic bubbular array technology for cancer and stem cell sorting and microcell culture. Microbubbles arrays comprise a novel 3D micrometastatic tumor spheroid model that can be used for high throughput screening and determination of drug efficacy using a model more representative model of in vivo.
3. Nanoparticles and Skin
Designing bioactive NIR fluorescent nanoparticle probes of epithelial barrier function. To complement standard techniques (histology, TEM, FACS) we are designing a NIR reflection and fluorescent Confocal microscope to quantify NP skin penetration and to relate skin translocation patterns to disease including skin cancer and atopic dermatits.
Because of the increasing use of nanomaterials in reserach, manufacturing and presence in consumer products - there is an increasing potenital for NP to contact skin. Therefore we are developing an in vivo mouse model to investigate NP skin penetration and translocation mechanisms under both normal and pathologic conditions with the goal to quantify the potential toxicological impact (Nanotoxicology).
