Application
A research tool for quantifying fluidic shear stress in vitro and in vivo.
Key Benefits
- Directly measures sub-cellular shear stress from 0.5 dynes/cm2 to 100 dynes/cm2.
- Can target specific ligands of interest.
- Compatible with existing fluorescent approaches.
- Flexible design allows for multiple modifications for a variety of applications.
Market Summary
Shear stress is defined as a force per unit area acting in parallel to a surface element. In the context of fluids, shear stress is primarily caused by friction between fluid particles, due to fluid viscosity. Shear forces are one of the most important forces mediating cell and tissue biology, as they affect signaling pathways, blood flow, and more. Despite its importance, it is currently impossible to directly measure shear forces in complex anatomical features such as the nephrons, mammary glands, hepatic ducts, bone marrow, lymphatics, or leaky tumor vasculature.
Technical Summary
The current invention is a bionanomechanical reporter that releases a fluorescent signal when shear stress is applied in a model system. The strength of the signal depends on the amount of shear stress applied, allowing for quantitative measurement of shear stress. The reporter is extremely versatile, and can be modified to anchor to any ligand of interest. In addition, it can be modified for in vivo biocompatibility and for use in constricted anatomical locations. Thus far, the reporter has been modified to anchor to a blood platelet surface marker and to include exclusively DNA-based organic components. This is the first implementation of a mechanosensitive nanostructure for measuring shear stress and could allow for the direct measurement of these forces in complex anatomical features such as the nephrons, mammary glands, hepatic ducts, bone marrow, lymphatics, or leaky tumor vasculature.
Developmental Stage
In vitro validation studies have been conducted with multiple iterations of the nanoreporter.