Outdoor Air Pollution Epidemiology and Mechanisms (C103)
2:15- 4:15 p.m. Tuesday
Room 150B (Middle Building, Street Level), Walter E. Washington Convention Center
A New York high school senior will present her research on engineered nanoparticles as a potential drug delivery system for lung disease during a Poster Discussion Session Tuesday. Delaney Buskard’s research adds to the growing interest in engineered nanoparticles designed to target specific cells for therapy.
Ms. Buskard conducted her research last summer as part of the Young Scholars Program at the University of California, Davis. She worked in the laboratory of Kent Pinkerton, PhD, director of the university’s Center for Health and the Environment and a former chair of both the ATS Environmental, Occupational & Population Health Assembly and its Environmental Health Policy Committee.
Delaney Buskard is a high school student who will present at a Poster Discussion Session Tuesday.
Working with a UC Davis graduate student, Ms. Buskard exposed mice to air filled with mesoporous silica nanoparticles. The goal was determine if the MSNs caused inflammation or any other negative side effect, how readily the MSNs were picked up and retained by lung cells for up to 21 days after inhalation, and whether a positive or negative charge on the MSN surface affected uptake and retention.
Delaney Buskard is a high school student who will present at a Poster Discussion Session Tuesday.
One of the biggest challenges of the study, Ms. Buskard said, was quantifying uptake and retention based on images taken with a fluorescent microscope.
“I tried four or five different methods, but none of them worked well,” she explained. “So, I suggested that we use steps from several different protocols to get the most accurate data we could in an efficient manner.”
Ms. Buskard will study environmental sciences at the University of Virginia in the fall.