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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Song Ih Ahn
BioE Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
3:00 PM, Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019
Krone EBB – CHOA Seminar Room
Advisor: YongTae (Tony) Kim, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Committee:
Allan I. Levey, MD, Ph.D. (Emory University)
Mark R. Prausnitz, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Shuichi Takayama, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)
Levi Wood, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)
Development of a microengineered human blood-brain barrier model WITH 3D ASTROCYTIC NETWORK
The blood-brain barrier (BBB), a unique vascular border in the central nervous system (CNS), has a highly selective barrier function that prevents unwanted substances from entering the brain. To deliver drugs into the brain, CNS delivery systems have been widely explored to cross the BBB. However, the lack of experimental models that can precisely analyze the interactions between the BBB and delivery platforms restricts successful clinical translation of CNS therapeutics. Despite valuable contribution of animal models to drug discovery, it remains difficult to conduct mechanistic studies on the barrier function and interactions with drugs at molecular and cellular levels. One innovative approach to addressing this challenge is to develop an in vitro model that mimics the essential physiological structure and function of the human BBB and that allows quantitative analysis of drug transport across the barrier in a controlled manner. The main focus of this thesis is on development of a microengineered human BBB model which reconstitutes the key structure and function of the human BBB and enables 3D capturing of nanoparticle distribution at tissue and cellular levels to demonstrate the mechanisms of cellular uptakes and BBB penetration. This BBB model may present a complementary in vitro model to animal models for prescreening drug candidates for the treatment of CNS diseases.
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