Chemical Engineering

Exfoliation syndrome (XFS) (pseudoexfoliation syndrome) is an age-related disease, characterized by the production of

a fibrillar extracellular material that accumulates on many ocular tissues and dramatically affects ocular homeostasis.

Despite some success in elucidating pathomechanisms, curative pharmacotherapy for this disease has not been achieved to date. The ability to treat this disease necessitates the ability to target the fibrillar structures related to the exfoliation within the in vivo context. The scope of this research is to engineer molecules that can both target and treat the aggregation of proteins within the anterior segment of the eye; for within this region, the deposition of exfoliation materials leads directly to impaired vision. An ex vivo protocol has been developed for identification of exfoliation material-targeting molecules. Specific binding of targeting molecules was evaluated using fluorescence microscopy. Suggested therapeutic strategy rests on the thought of conjugation of targeting biomolecules with nanoparticles. Alkyne-modified targeting biomolecules were conjugated to the magnetic nanoparticles to evaluate the effect of engineered biomolecules on the exfoliation material. Bio-conjugation was evaluated through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Subsequent pharmacotherapies will be dependent on the ability to preferentially target these fibrillar structures and that this study will be the precursor to further systematic studies on developing strategies for this express purpose.