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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Immunomodulatory Biomaterials For Cancer Immunotherapy, Larry Donnell Stokes Jr
Immunomodulatory Biomaterials For Cancer Immunotherapy, Larry Donnell Stokes Jr
Honors Theses
Cancer immunotherapy has become an effective treatment in the toolbox of oncologists. Immunotherapy offers a less toxic alternative to standard cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and can have prolonged curative effects to decrease cancer recurrence. Today, many drugs and biological agents have been developed that target the immune system and elicit an antitumor/cancer response. These agents are known collectively as cancer immunotherapies. While immunotherapies have radically improved treatment outcomes for many cancer patients, there are drawbacks to using these treatments. Immunotherapy treatments have poor clinical responses in patients with tumors that lack immunogenicity. Some of the treatments also pose a …
Assessing The Impact Of Block-Selective Homopolymers On The Diffusion Of Payload Through Polymeric Organogels, Ian Coates
Honors Theses
Styrenic polymer gels have received recent attention for their application in transdermal patches due to their unique properties. Previous research in the pharmaceutical industry has identified that polymeric gels, specifically styrenic gels, have the potential to encompass multiple functions of the transdermal delivery patch including controlling mechanical and delivery properties. To tailor styrenic gels either the gel nanostructure or the drug complex can be controlled. Specifically, this thesis investigated the effect of gel nanostructure in an attempt to control the gel diffusivity and mechanical properties. To control gel nanostructure a phase selective styrene homopolymer was used at varying concentrations. It …
Biocompatible, Responsive Polysoaps Via Raft Copolymerization For The Delivery Of Model Cancer Therapeutics, Mason Dearborn
Biocompatible, Responsive Polysoaps Via Raft Copolymerization For The Delivery Of Model Cancer Therapeutics, Mason Dearborn
Honors Theses
Many chemotherapeutic drugs are small, hydrophobic molecules that require water-soluble, biocompatible nanocarriers for enhanced vascular circulation. Existing polymeric carriers either conjugate the drug along a copolymer backbone or sequester drugs within a protected interior domain to be delivered to specific sites in the body. Such therapeutic systems must overcome a myriad of hurdles, beginning with complex, multi-step syntheses, followed by other inherent barriers that limit the efficiency of drug delivery at the targeted site. This work aims to circumvent a number of these issues using biocompatible, stimuli-responsive polysoaps that are capable of unimeric micelle formation, hydrophobic drug delivery, and triggered …