(in collaboration with UBC colleagues Sarah Hedtrich and Don Sin)

We are interested in the transport of nanoparticles in biological tissues and organs, either as environmental pollutants or as vehicles for drug and gene delivery. A special focus of this work is on the development of organ-on-a-chip devices as in vitro disease models, with the potential of replacing drug testing on animals.

In a recently completed project, we built a computational model for the transport and deposition of air-borne nanoparticles in a lung-on-a-chip device (highlighted in AIP Scilight). The two movies below are simulation results for the adsorption of 100 nm non-Brownian and Brownian particles on a substrate.

Behavior of non-Brownian particles. The color scale shows the instantaneous particle velocity.

Behavior of Brownian particles. The color scale shows the instantaneous particle velocity.

Currently, we are pursuing a MITACS Accelerate project on Rational Nanoparticle Design for Efficient Transmucosal Gene Delivery. By coordinating Brownian dynamics simulations and in vitro experiments, we are exploring how to optimize surface chemistry of nanoparticles to achieve desired delivery through the human airway mucus layer.