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Development Of Soft-Matter Delivery Systems: Coupling Ph Responsive Polymers To Porous Silica Particles, Andrew Gomez

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

This work investigates polymeric coating of evaporated induced self-assembly (EISA) mesoprous silica nanoparticles for potential use in controlled drug release and therapeutics. As demonstrated here, lipid bilayer coatings can be easily replaced with different polymer analogs allowing for dynamic response to environmental stimuli. In addition to coupling commercially available diblock polymers we synthesized and characterized a unique dual hydrophilic pH responsive diblock copolymer, PEO-PAA. This hybrid polymeric-nanoparticle system drastically improves targeting and release capabilities through the modular ability to couple multiple different polymers. Furthermore, this work is supported by an improved method to form and study giant polymer vesicles (pGVs)