Obiettivo Nerve pain affects millions of people, and can be personally devastating for people who experience it. Current methods for pain management (e.g. local injection of pain killers) are inadequate because of the short duration of action. Even sustained release treatments, such as drug-loaded liposomes, provide only one week of analgesia producing a continuous extended nerve blockade without allowing for changes in daily physical activity or level of pain relief. More importantly, such systems cannot be turned off until they run their course.In this proposal, a locally-injected or implanted near infrared (NIR)-sensitive drug reservoir that can be triggered by a simple handheld laser device applied externally is described. The device enables drug release with consistent response over multiple on/off cycles. Such a device, implanted (or eventually injected) on a nerve or near the neuraxis, could have substantial clinical impact in the treatment of chronic (or prolonged perioperative) pain.This system will consist of an impermeable ethylcellulose membrane embedded with temperature-sensitive polymer nanoparticles and NIR-active gold nanoparticles. The membrane will be engineered such that the nanoparticles form a disordered but interconnected network throughout. The gold nanoparticle concentration will be adjusted so that light-induced heating of the nanoparticles produces sufficient heat to collapse the polymer, thus opening the porous network. Those nanostructured materials which compose the device will be produced in a continuous manner by using microfluidic reactors to avoid the characteristic disadvantages when using conventional discontinuous (batch) reactors. Nanoparticle-synthesis protocols will be supported by computational fluid dynamics.The specific aims will be geared toward engineering a NIR-triggered drug release device and optimizing for a variety of drug types, then demonstrating its biocompatibility and therapeutic effectiveness in vivo. Campo scientifico natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciencesnatural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsfluid dynamicscomputational fluid dynamicsengineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics Programma(i) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Argomento(i) ERC-CG-2013-PE8 - ERC Consolidator Grant - Products and Processes Engineering Invito a presentare proposte ERC-2013-CoG Vedi altri progetti per questo bando Meccanismo di finanziamento ERC-CG - ERC Consolidator Grants Istituzione ospitante UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA Contributo UE € 1 570 091,00 Indirizzo CALLE PEDRO CERBUNA 12 50009 Zaragoza Spagna Mostra sulla mappa Regione Noreste Aragón Zaragoza Tipo di attività Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Ricercatore principale Manuel Arruebo Gordo (Dr.) Contatto amministrativo Carmen Baras (Ms.) Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Sito web Opens in new window Costo totale Nessun dato Beneficiari (1) Classifica in ordine alfabetico Classifica per Contributo UE Espandi tutto Riduci tutto UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA Spagna Contributo UE € 1 570 091,00 Indirizzo CALLE PEDRO CERBUNA 12 50009 Zaragoza Mostra sulla mappa Regione Noreste Aragón Zaragoza Tipo di attività Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Ricercatore principale Manuel Arruebo Gordo (Dr.) Contatto amministrativo Carmen Baras (Ms.) Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Sito web Opens in new window Costo totale Nessun dato