Kaiting Miao is a PhD student in the Atherothrombosis and Vascular Biology laboratory investigating novel nanotechnologies for targeted drug delivery, aiming to improve the therapeutic effect and reduce side-effects for patients with cardiovascular diseases, under the supervision of Prof Karlheinz Peter and Dr Ahmed Refaat.

Kaiting completed a Master’s of Research at Macquarie University, exploring the size effect of nanoparticles penetrating through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and focusing on the development of nanomedicines that can cross the BBB to treat brain diseases, such as glioblastoma, Alzheimer’s disease, and motor neuron disease. Kaiting’s PhD project now aims to understand the progression of atherosclerosis and design novel and efficient nanoplatforms for atherosclerosis and other relevant cardiovascular disease treatments.

A key aspect of her work involves developing targeted tissue or cell-selective nanoparticles capable of delivering therapeutic mRNA and chemical drugs to the affected areas, such as the plaque in the arteries. Her work aims to overcome the limitations of conventional drug delivery methods and to achieve personalised treatment for cardiovascular diseases.