Fibrin-modulating nanogels for treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a pathological coagulopathy associated with infection that increases mortality. In DIC, excessive thrombin generation causes symptoms from formation of microthrombi to multiorgan failure; bleeding risks can also be a concern because of clotting factor consumption. Different clinical events lead to DIC, including sepsis, trauma, and shock.

An Activity-Based Nanosensor for Traumatic Brain Injury.

Currently, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is detected by medical imaging; however, medical imaging requires expensive capital equipment, is time- and resource-intensive, and is poor at predicting patient prognosis. To date, direct measurement of elevated protease activity has yet to be utilized to detect TBI. In this work, we engineered an activity-based nanosensor for TBI (TBI-ABN) that responds to increased protease activity initiated after brain injury.