Development of a nanotechnology resource center to advance urological research

Research Project Abstract: Development of a Nanotechnology Resource Center to Advance Urological Research Use of nanotechnology in the biomedical field is leading to major breakthroughs in research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. The potential application of this technology to benign urology is immense but largely underexplored. At our institution (?Einstein?), the research laboratory of Dr. Joel Friedman has developed a nanoparticle-delivery system (the ?Einstein? nanoparticle). We and others have applied this system to several fields of research, including benign urology, resulting in >20 publications, several extramurally funded research projects, and licensing to a commercial entity. This nanoparticle-delivery system has intrinsic potential for modulation of its physicochemical properties, allowing it to be applied to a vast array of basic research and clinical conditions. However, the availability of these nanoparticle-delivery systems to the general urologic research community is limited by the absence of specific resource allocations for their design and synthesis. The major goal of the Research Project in our proposed resource Development Center is to increase the availability of the ?Einstein? nanoparticle platforms to researchers in the field of benign urologic disease. As a primary goal of the Research Project, the ?Einstein? nanoparticle will be ?tailored? for benign urogenital disease research by modifying the cargo, payload, and release kinetics and targeting to specific urogenital tissues. Input into the design of these novel nanoparticles by the Research Project will be provided by the Administrative Core, which will work closely with the Center?s outside investigators/collaborators to identify specific requirements for their ongoing research projects. In Specific Aim 1, these nanoparticles will be synthesized and undergo physico- chemical characterization. In Specific Aim 2, in vitro and in vivo testing will validate and document the targeting of nanoparticles to specific urogenital tissues. The characteristics of the nanoparticles will be documented on the Center?s Website. In Specific Aim 3, the Administrative Core will facilitate the incorporation of the nanoparticles in selected collaborative research projects related to benign urological diseases. This latter Aim would be intrinsically synergistic. Investigators will require the development and synthesis of novel nanoparticle formulations tailored to their specific research projects, and the Administrative Core and Research Project will facilitate their synthesis and utilization. This process will lead to the development of a variety of novel nanoparticle formulations and expand the application of nanotechnology to research benign urological conditions.