Keywords
Osteoarthritis; Joint-Targeting Peptides; Systemic Drug Delivery; Phage Display; Animal Model; Genetic Engineering of Phage
Abstract
Osteoarthritis is a prevalent progressive joint disease characterized by the degradation of articular cartilage, which results in inflammation and a decreased range of motion. Despite its commonality, therapeutics consist of managing the symptoms due to the inability to reverse damage. Delineating in vivo phage display in a murine model of PTOA may enable the identification of peptides with affinity for arthritic joints, thereby supporting the development of a targeted drug delivery system.
This thesis details the foundational experiments, in which we sought to verify the feasibility of in vivo phage display as it pertains to joints using naïve phage and engineering of a chondrocyte-affinity peptide (CAP)-phage identified in the literature during ex vivo and in vitro experimentation. Results indicate that phages are capable of entering the joint area at both timepoints, fifteen minutes and one-hour, post-injection. Furthermore, phages displaying CAP were not enriched in the cartilage-containing tissues compared with naïve phage, contrary to what an earlier ex vivo study had suggested. This highlights the need for further in vivo experimentation to identify a novel peptide.
Thesis Completion Year
2026
Thesis Completion Semester
Spring
Thesis Chair
Kean, Thomas
College
College of Medicine
Department
Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Discipline
Medicine
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus Access
None
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
STARS Citation
Taplin, Kasey M., "Optimizing In Vivo Phage Display for Downstream Identification of Osteoarthritic Joint-Targeting Peptides" (2026). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 540.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/540
Included in
Disease Modeling Commons, Osteopathic Medicine and Osteopathy Commons, Therapeutics Commons
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