University of California

Elux Medical, Inc.

Adah Almutairi

Khalid Almutairi

Jagadis Sankaranarayanan

Eric Schopf

Nadezda Fomina

Enas Mahmoud

Kang Zhang

Mathieu Lessard-Viger

Yogesh Ner

Jose Morachis

Jason Olejniczak

Jiagang Zhao

Minnie Chan

Wangzhong Sheng

Jerome Karpiak

Caroline De Gracia Lux

A system and method are provided for minimally-invasive selective fat removal from a target area by injecting the area with a solution of photo-absorbing nanoparticles and irradiating the injected area with a beam of near infrared (NIR) light. The NIR emission wavelength excites the nanoparticles to melt fat within the target area so that the liquefied fat can be aspirated from the target area. The nanoparticles may be gold nanorods having aspect ratios selected to produce surface plasmon resonance when irradiated with NIR light around 800 nm.

Selective fat removal using photothermal heating

PLGA-based polymers include pendant nucleophiles protected with photocleavable protecting groups. Upon deprotection, the polymers degrade rapidly via intramolecular cyclization into small molecules. The polymer may be formulated as a nanoparticle, with an encapsulated payload, which may be an imaging agent, a bioactive agent or a pharmaceutical agent.

Stimulus-responsive poly(lactic-co-glycolic)-based polymers and nanoparticles formed therefrom

The invention provides an in vitro method for producing isolated mammalian primitive retinal stem cells (pRSCs) comprising: (a) culturing isolated embryonic stem cells (ESCs) from a mammal in a cell culture medium that is free of feeder cells, feeder-conditioned medium or serum so as to produce and grow a culture of the isolated ESCs; and (b) contacting the culture of the isolated ESCs so grown with one or more of an inhibitor for Wnt or TGF-&#x3b2;/BMP signaling so as to differentiate the isolated ESCs of (a) into primitive retinal stem cells thereby producing isolated mammalian pRSCs.

Methods of mammalian retinal stem cell production and applications

Compositions are provided in which dendrimers and/or nanoparticles are synthesized with multi-photon responsive elements and self-immolative oligomers. The compositions may be utilized to selectively deliver Payloads within tissue by irradiating the compositions. The compositions may also be used to amplify sensitivity to irradiation.

Nanocarriers with multi-photon response elements

Near infrared radiation at a wavelength that induces resonance in water is used to remotely activate thermal plasticization of polymeric particles to trigger the release of encapsulated molecules from the particles. Nanocarriers formed from biocompatible hydrophilic polymers may be used to deliver encapsulated molecules to tissue with a reversible transition that allows repeated activations for extended release of the payload.

Polymeric nanocarriers with light-triggered release mechanism

Nanocarriers are synthesized with polymers that respond to lower pH and/or ROS by being degraded. The compositions may be utilized to selectively deliver payloads within patients by responding to lower pH and/or ROS at localities within the patient. The present invention also features methods of synthesizing nanocarriers that are degraded by lower pH and/or ROS.

Polymeric nanocarriers with linear dual response mechanism

A method is provided for forming complex tissue using density gradient multilayer polymerization (DGMP) to form strong hydrogels with smooth transitions between layers. The multicompartment hydrogel is formed by co-dissolving a polymer precurser with a constituent in multiple solvent fractions to a create prepolymer solutions with different densities, layering the prepolymer solutions on top of each other from high to low solvent density, and irradiating the prepolymer solutions to form a polymer. The hydrogels may be used as biomimetic matrices.

Single step polymerization of covalently bound multilayer matrices

Disclosed are compositions and synthesis methods that pertain to biocompatible polymeric capsules capable of undergoing backbone degradation and cargo release upon exposure to biologically relevant concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (50-100 &#x3bc;M of HO). In the invention, bio-responsive polyester bearing boronic ester triggers groups that degrade upon exposure to low concentrations of HO. The degradation is induced by transformation of a boronic ester to a phenol, which undergoes a quinone methide rearrangement to break down the polyester backbone.

Biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles degrade and release cargo in response to biologically relevant levels of hydrogen peroxide

A system and method are provided for minimally-invasive removal of fat from a target area by injecting the area with a solution of photo-absorbing nanoparticles and irradiating the injected area with a beam of near infrared (NIR) light. The NIR emission wavelength excites the nanoparticles to melt and liquefy fat within the target area so that the liquefied fat can be aspirated from the target area. The nanoparticles may be gold nanorods having aspect ratios selected to produce surface plasmon resonance when irradiated with NIR light around 800 nm.

Fine spatiotemporal control of fat removal using NIR light

A system and method are provided for minimally-invasive selective removal of fat from a target area by injecting the area with a solution of photo-absorbing nanoparticles and irradiating the injected area with a beam of near infrared (NIR) light. The NIR emission wavelength excites the nanoparticles to melt fat within the target area so that the liquefied fat can be aspirated from the target area. The nanoparticles may be gold nanorods having aspect ratios selected to produce surface plasmon resonance when irradiated with NIR light around 800 nm.

Selective fat removal using NIR light and nanoparticles

The present invention features compositions in which nano-carriers are synthesized with polymers that respond to lower pH and/or ROS by being degraded. The compositions may be utilized to selectively deliver payloads within patients by responding to lower pH and/or ROS at localities within the patient. The present invention also features methods of synthesizing nano-carriers that are degraded by lower pH and/or ROS.

Growing community of inventors

La Jolla, CA, United States of America

Adah Almutairi