Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a disease resulting from too much cerebrospinal fluid around the brain and affects roughly 750,000 Americans, typically those over 65 years old. Penn State researchers are developing a new technology called HydroFix, an advanced surgical shunt system to address NPH.
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Penn State startup aims to improve treatment of hydrocephalus
Normal pressure hydrocephalus is a disease resulting from too much cerebrospinal fluid around the brain. NPH symptoms are often confused with Alzheimer’s disease but in many cases are reversible with the placement of a shunt. The HydroFix shunt developed by Penn State researchers is designed to mitigate the risks associated with the current shunts on the market and provide a durable treatment solution for NPH patients.Image: Penn State
Penn State startup aims to improve treatment of hydrocephalus
May 28, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a disease resulting from too much cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) around the brain and affects roughly 750,000 Americans, typically those over 65 years old. Symptoms are often confused with Alzheimer’s disease, but in many cases they are reversible with the placement of a shunt.
IMAGE: Penn State
“He has exploited these discoveries to develop a truly novel and intriguing technology for the delivery of therapeutic proteins to cells, which has the potential to revolutionize protein delivery.”
Schmitt’s research focuses on understanding viral and host protein interactions that contribute to the formation of paramyxovirus particles and developing new strategies to exploit these interactions and inhibit virus replication.
In recent years, his research group discovered a way to manipulate virus-like particles so that they will package any protein of interest as cargo. This finding led to the development of a new protein delivery technology in which therapeutic proteins, such as CRISPR enzymes, are incorporated into virus-like particles, which then deliver the contents to the cytoplasms of target cells.