Research Projects

Osteoarthritis (OA), a painful and debilitating condition affecting over 10 million people in India, is managed with pain medication, viscosupplements, and surgery. However, many disease-modifying drugs and anti-inflammatory molecules have poor water solubility, low bioavailability, and off-target localization. To address this, researchers plan to use two types of virus-like particles (VLPs): Flock House Virus (FHV) and Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV). FHV VLPs can be chemically conjugated with targeting peptides and have a natural affinity for hydrophobic molecules. ChiKV VLPs localize to chondrocyte, synoviocyte, and FLS cells in joints. The ability of these particles to release drugs will be tested in culture and their effect on inflammatory cytokine, growth factor, and angiogenesis marker expression will be analyzed.