Grant: Project Grant

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed nations with an estimated cost exceeding 20 billion per year in Canada alone. Primarily this is caused by atherosclerosis, a systemic disease, characterized by retention of cholesterol-rich lipoproteins in susceptible areas of the arterial vasculature, endothelial activation, and macrophage infiltration resulting in plaque formation. While statin-based LDL lowering therapies have been moderately effective, there remains a vast unmet need to explore new and potent therapies. Nanotechnology applications in medicine have revolutionized cancer therapies, while it has been largely unexplored in cardiovascular diseases. Nanotherapies will have unprecedented benefits in both preventing atherosclerosis progression and the treatment. They have the potential to increase the efficacy of anti-atherosclerotic drugs and novel regenerative therapies, with significantly reduced adverse side effects. The overarching goal of this proposal is to develop clinically translatable nanomedicines for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and imaging modalities to study and understand disease mechanisms and unearth novel therapeutic targets