{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/150276"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/150276","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Macrophage-hitchhiking Anisotropic Microparticles for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Applications","abstract":"Cell therapies represent a major paradigm shift of biotechnology in medicine due to its transformative potential in treating previously incurable diseases. A variety of cells have been applied for cell therapies, including stem cells, tissue-specific cells, and hematopoietic cells. Particularly, immune cells, a subset of blood cells, have gained significant attention owing to their inflammation-homing ability as well as inherently critical roles in disease progression and tissue regeneration. The prosperity of immune cell-based therapies in the clinic has fueled the efforts in immune cell engineering. Several approaches have been taken to functionalize immune cells, among which biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, marrying the strengths of biomaterials and leukocytes, become a new pillar of immune cell engineering. In my thesis work, I provide a brief overview on the cell therapies in the clinic, followed by introducing two projects of biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, where anisotropic microparticles and macrophage, a type of innate immune cells, were employed. Specifically, I developed and engineered discoidal microparticles that can hitchhike on the macrophage surface but resist phagocytosis due to their anisotropic morphology. This approach takes advantage of inflammation-homing capability of macrophages and enables stable loading of therapeutic and imaging agents in the extracellular space for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.","abstract_html":"Cell therapies represent a major paradigm shift of biotechnology in medicine due to its transformative potential in treating previously incurable diseases. A variety of cells have been applied for cell therapies, including stem cells, tissue-specific cells, and hematopoietic cells. Particularly, immune cells, a subset of blood cells, have gained significant attention owing to their inflammation-homing ability as well as inherently critical roles in disease progression and tissue regeneration. The prosperity of immune cell-based therapies in the clinic has fueled the efforts in immune cell engineering. Several approaches have been taken to functionalize immune cells, among which biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, marrying the strengths of biomaterials and leukocytes, become a new pillar of immune cell engineering. In my thesis work, I provide a brief overview on the cell therapies in the clinic, followed by introducing two projects of biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, where anisotropic microparticles and macrophage, a type of innate immune cells, were employed. Specifically, I developed and engineered discoidal microparticles that can hitchhike on the macrophage surface but resist phagocytosis due to their anisotropic morphology. This approach takes advantage of inflammation-homing capability of macrophages and enables stable loading of therapeutic and imaging agents in the extracellular space for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wang, Li-Wen"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Doctoral","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Mitragotri, Samir"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-02","date_published":"2023-02","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:38Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"rights_urls":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150276","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Mitragotri, Samir"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wang, Li-Wen"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-03-31T14:44:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-03-31T14:44:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023-02"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctoral","Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150276"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Cell therapies represent a major paradigm shift of biotechnology in medicine due to its transformative potential in treating previously incurable diseases. A variety of cells have been applied for cell therapies, including stem cells, tissue-specific cells, and hematopoietic cells. Particularly, immune cells, a subset of blood cells, have gained significant attention owing to their inflammation-homing ability as well as inherently critical roles in disease progression and tissue regeneration. The prosperity of immune cell-based therapies in the clinic has fueled the efforts in immune cell engineering. Several approaches have been taken to functionalize immune cells, among which biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, marrying the strengths of biomaterials and leukocytes, become a new pillar of immune cell engineering. In my thesis work, I provide a brief overview on the cell therapies in the clinic, followed by introducing two projects of biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, where anisotropic microparticles and macrophage, a type of innate immune cells, were employed. Specifically, I developed and engineered discoidal microparticles that can hitchhike on the macrophage surface but resist phagocytosis due to their anisotropic morphology. This approach takes advantage of inflammation-homing capability of macrophages and enables stable loading of therapeutic and imaging agents in the extracellular space for therapeutic and diagnostic applications."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Macrophage-hitchhiking Anisotropic Microparticles for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Applications"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Mitragotri, Samir"],"dc:contributor.department":["Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology"],"dc:creator":["Wang, Li-Wen"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-03-31T14:44:32Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-03-31T14:44:32Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023-02"],"dc:description.abstract":["Cell therapies represent a major paradigm shift of biotechnology in medicine due to its transformative potential in treating previously incurable diseases. A variety of cells have been applied for cell therapies, including stem cells, tissue-specific cells, and hematopoietic cells. Particularly, immune cells, a subset of blood cells, have gained significant attention owing to their inflammation-homing ability as well as inherently critical roles in disease progression and tissue regeneration. The prosperity of immune cell-based therapies in the clinic has fueled the efforts in immune cell engineering. Several approaches have been taken to functionalize immune cells, among which biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, marrying the strengths of biomaterials and leukocytes, become a new pillar of immune cell engineering. In my thesis work, I provide a brief overview on the cell therapies in the clinic, followed by introducing two projects of biomaterial-assisted cellular platforms, where anisotropic microparticles and macrophage, a type of innate immune cells, were employed. Specifically, I developed and engineered discoidal microparticles that can hitchhike on the macrophage surface but resist phagocytosis due to their anisotropic morphology. This approach takes advantage of inflammation-homing capability of macrophages and enables stable loading of therapeutic and imaging agents in the extracellular space for therapeutic and diagnostic applications."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150276"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"dc:rights.uri":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dc:title":["Macrophage-hitchhiking Anisotropic Microparticles for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Applications"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctoral","Doctor of Philosophy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:38Z"}