The already immense socioeconomic burden of osteoarthritis (OA) is growing ($185.5 billion in 2007!), yet osteoarthritis therapies have been difficult to translate from the lab to the clinic. The lack of OA therapies is due in part to an inability to detect early-stage OA. Through the Osteoarthritis Biomarker Global Initiative, the OA research community has placed a special emphasis on the development of biomarkers for early OA diagnosis. Our laboratory recently developed a new technology to collect OA biomarkers directly from an OA-affected joint using magnetic nanoparticles and a magnetic microneedle. Using this technology, it is possible to collect OA biomarkers directly from a joint without the need to remove joint fluid. In the future, this technology may enable the collection of diagnostic biomarkers from small joints affected by OA, such as the hand, and allow treatments to be tailored to the specific mediators within a joint.
Projects:
Interdisciplinary Research Group for Magnetic Biomaterials
(UF Planning Proposal, PI: Carlos Rinaldi)
Magnetic collection of joint-level osteoarthritis biomarkers
(NIH/NIAMS R21AR064402, Pending)
Magnetic Nanoparticle/Biomarker Harvesting Technologies for the Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Osteoarthritis
(UF Opportunity Seed Fund)
Collaborations:
Jon Dobson, PhD
David Arnold, PhD
Carlos Rinaldi, PhD
Kevin Vincent, MD, PhD
Murray Brown, DVM
Antonio Pozzi, DVM