Description:
Princeton Docket # 16-3177-1
Researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University have proposed a method to control the opening and closing of mechanosensitive (MS) channels on a cell membrane.
MS channels are membrane proteins that can be gated by membrane tension, and they play major roles in mechano-sensation and mechano-transduction in cells. As a step in understanding dynamics of a MS channel in membranes exposed to fluid flows, a multiscale continuum model is constructed to address how a MS channel in a vesicle membrane can be gated by flow-generated stresses in two physiological flows: planar shear flow and pressure-driven flow across a constriction channel. The researchers demonstrated the opening/closing of a MS channel as a function of the flow strength and physical parameters. The numerical results also suggest the possibility of utilizing fluid flows to deliver macromolecules (e.g. drugs) by gating MS channels reconstituted in liposomes in microfluidic platforms.
Applications
• Delivery of macromolecules across a membrane from the inside to the outside of a cell or vesicle
• Delivery of macromolecules across a membrane from the outside to the inside of a cell or vesicle
Advantages
• Flow-controlled delivery
• Targeting chemical delivery to situations regulated by the level of stress
The Inventor
Howard A. Stone, Donald R. Dixon and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Department Chair
Howard Stone is the Donald R. Dixon '69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. His research has been concerned with a variety of fundamental problems in fluid motions dominated by viscosity, so-called low Reynolds number flows, and has frequently featured a combination of theory, computer simulation and modeling, and experiments to provide a quantitative understanding of the flow phenomenon under investigation. Prof. Stone is the recipient of the most prestigious fluid mechanics prize, the Batchelor Prize 2008, for the best research in fluid mechanics in the last ten years. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences.
Intellectual Property & Development Status
Patent protection is pending.
Princeton is currently seeking commercial partners for the further development and commercialization of this opportunity.
Contact:
Michael R. Tyerech
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing
• (609) 258-6762• tyerech@princeton.edu
Xin (Shane) Peng
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing
• (609) 258-5579• xinp@princeton.edu