|
Elisa Ferrante, M.S.
Research Interests: Atherosclerosis is one of the most predominant causes of death in the United States and the remainder of the world. In this disease, endothelial cells respond by expressing surface antigens such as selectins and integrins to promote leukocyte rolling, adhesion and subsequent migration into the tissue, often exacerbating the disease condition. There is currently no efficient method to determine the presence and location of atherosclerotic lesions in blood vessels, despite it being well known that they often develop in low shear stress/vessel bifurcation regions. I am interested in developing dual-targeted microbubbles, as ultrasound contrast agents, that are capable of selectively binding to the inflamed endothelium within atherosclerotic plaques, allowing for their early detection. These biologically inert microbubbles may also be eventually used as targeted drug carrier/delivery agents, which can be ruptured by ultrasound at the required treatment site. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
