Development of New Tools
We are interested in establishing new tools and methods to study how gliovascular units behave during strokes and in brain tumor in vivo.
Currently, it is difficult for researchers to take advantage of advanced live-imaging technologies in stroke studies, particularly in the developing mouse brain, due to vascular surgical challenges. We have developed a novel approach to induce focal ischemia with precise control of infarct size and occlusion duration in mice at any postnatal age (Jie et al., Nature Methods, 2016). We achieved the occlusion, which is reversible, via micromagnet-mediated aggregation of magnetic nanoparticles within a blood vessel (see below). In combination with longitudinal live imaging, we will investigate underlying mechanisms of disruption and repair of neurovascular units in vivo under ischemic stroke.
