Date of Award

Spring 2018

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2018.

Department

Bioengineering

First Advisor

Bill Lu

Abstract

Exosomes represent a promising new approach to targeted drug delivery. Current research explores the ability of these naturally occurring nanoparticles to transport therapeutic cargo to specific tissues of the body and to subsequently enter the cells of those tissues. Human cells act as an efficient source of these nano-vesicles. Our project ultimately focuses on the establishment of a cell line that produces exosomes tagged with the RD114 protein, which allows for the targeting of hematopoietic stem cells. With the ability to deliver therapeutic cargo to these specific cells, exosomes can serve as a vehicle for many effective hematopoietic stem cell therapies. We ultimately developed two stable cell lines that produced engineered exosomes and conducted a series of tests on these nanoparticles. Results from these tests indicate that these exosomes are tagged with the desired proteins, opening several possibilities for future research.

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