Treating Alzheimer’s Disease: Bridging scales from Angstroms to Micron

Abstract:  

Finding pathways across biological barriers for delivering life-saving drugs is entering a new era with the rapid advancement of computational resources. My research group focuses on developing simulation methods to elucidate the interfacial phenomenon associated with biological barriers that play a role in life-threatening diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, and chronic infections. Our goal is to influence this experimentally dominated research field by providing mechanistic, structural, and molecular insights into the barrier functions that were computationally unattainable before our work. In the past few years, we have made breakthroughs in understanding the molecular architecture of the blood-brain barrier and developed strategies to enhance the barrier’s permeability for treating neurodegenerative diseases. In my talk, I will elaborate on the computational methods we have developed to investigate the blood-brain barrier and provide a perspective on treating Alzheimer’s disease.

Bio:

Shikha Nangia, PhD, is the Milton and Ann Stevenson Endowed Professor and Chair of the Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Department at Syracuse University, New York, USA. She is also the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Nangia received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA, in 2006 and completed her postdoctoral training at Pennsylvania State University. She completed her MS in Chemistry from IIT Delhi in 2000. Dr. Nangia’s research uses computational approaches to overcome biological barriers and enhance drug delivery. Her research projects include exploring treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, gut tight junctions, implantable device-related infections, and epigenetics. Her focus has been to examine the architecture of the blood-brain barrier to develop novel strategies to facilitate the transport of drug molecules into the brain. Dr Nangia’s research has received substantial funding from NSF, NIH, and other private foundations. Dr Nangia has also received numerous honors and awards for her research (NSF CAREER, Scialog Fellow, ACS OpenEye Faculty Award, ACS WCC Rising Star Award) and teaching throughout her career. She was recognized with the two Chancellor’s Awards: (i) for research excellence and (ii) outstanding contribution to the student experience at Syracuse University. She is an Associate Editor of ACS Applied Bio Materials.