Injuries to the spinal cord have devastating consequences on mobility, psychosocial perception, and control over other organ systems. Despite extensive research and clinical trials in this space, there are no approved clinical treatments for spinal cord injury due to the complex and heterogeneous pathophysiology associated with the injury. Inflammation that arises after the initial injury exacerbates tissue damage that compromises spinal circuitry that will need to be repaired. Given the early onset of inflammation, rapidly deployable active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are an attractive approach, but challenges in reaching the injury site necessitate high API doses that result in life-threatening off-target effects. To that end, we have developed a suite of nano-to-micro materials that tackle this challenge from two opposing perspectives: i) improving API delivery, or ii) API-free cellular reprogramming. In this talk, I will discuss the BiomatErial Accumulating Carriers for On-demand Nanotherapy (BEACON) system that enables precision in the timing, location, and dosage of APIs, thereby limiting life-threatening off-target drug effects while enabling on-demand delivery of therapeutics that can be tuned for individual patient needs. I will also discuss our Sequestration Nanoparticles for anti-inflammatory reprogramming (nanoSNARES) approach to API-free cellular reprogramming through glycosaminoglycan-modified nanoparticles to work with the immune system to truncate the propagation of detrimental cytokine signaling. Through these systems, we hope to tackle detrimental inflammation in the injured spinal cord, but ongoing investigations are also exploring these systems in other nerve, dermal, and cancer-related injuries that arise due to inflammatory dysfunction.
Courtney Dumont is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Miami, where she has been on the faculty since 2018. Dr. Dumont also holds appointments in the Department of Neurological Surgery and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Prior to starting her independent career, Dr. Dumont was awarded her PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2014 and performed postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan. Her lab currently works to apply creative engineering solutions to regenerative challenges of the nervous system by leveraging expertise ranging from engineering the stem cell niche to developing novel biomaterial and drug delivery systems that can be used alone or in combination with stem cell therapies. Dr. Dumont’s research is supported by the NSF, NIH, and Neilsen Foundation, including receipt of the NSF CAREER (2024) to explore drug-free immune modulation in a host of inflammatory conditions.