VIP-medicina

An in silico Virtual-Patient Modelling of the effective transport of Drug-Carrying particles to treat Atherosclerosis

Circulatory system diseases (CVD) involve the heart and blood vessels. CVD have been the leading cause of death in Europe, the most important being atherosclerosis. Traditional treatments have proven ineffective as drug molecules diffuse freely throughout the body.

The application of nanotechnology in medicine has provided new and novel opportunities using drug-carrying particles (DCPs). DCPs can target atherosclerotic plaques. Using a systematic and hierarchical approach we optimise the design of DCPs, as well as their targeted delivery to treat atherosclerosis. To do so, we developed a sophisticated mathematical model addressing the vascular flow of DCPs, using non-equilibrium thermodynamics (NET)

Coarse-grained (Dissipative Particle Dynamics, DPD) simulations allow us to model the start-up adhesion dynamics of pure blood and particles, which we validate using in vitro experiments.