Polymer Chemistry Commons^™

Engineering Stimuli-Responsive Polymeric Nanoassemblies: Rational Designs For Intracellular Delivery Of Biologics, Kingshuk Dutta

Doctoral Dissertations

Biologic drugs have gained enormous research attention in recent years as reflected by the development of multiple candidates to the clinical pipelines and an increased percentage of FDA approval. This is reasoned by the fact that biologics have been proven to deliver more predictive and promising benefits for many hard-to-cure diseases by ‘drugging the undruggable’ targets. However, the challenges associated with biologic drug development are multi-fold, viz, poor encapsulation efficacy, systemic instability, low cellular internalization and endosomal escape capability. Thus, it is essential to develop new molecular strategies that can not only address the associated drug delivery challenges, but also …

Guanidinium-Rich Romp Polymers Drive Phase, Charge, And Curvature-Specific Interactions With Phospholipid Membranes, Michael T W Lis

Doctoral Dissertations

Protein transduction domains (PTDs) and their and their synthetic mimics are short sequences capable of unusually high uptake in cells. Several varieties of these molecules, including the arginine-rich Tat peptide from HIV, have been extensively used as vectors for protein, DNA, and siRNA delivery into cells. Despite the wide-ranging utility of PTDs and their mimics, their uptake mechanism is still under considerable debate. How the molecules are able to cross phospholipid membranes, and what structural components are necessary for optimal activity are poorly understood. This thesis explores how PTDMs interact with phospholipid membrane phase, anionic lipid content and negative Gaussian …

Synthesis And Applications Of Mutimodal Hybrid Albumin Nanoparticles For Chemotherapeutic Drug Delivery And Phototherml Therapy Platforms, Donna V. Peralta

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Progress has been made in using human serum albumin nanoparticles (HSAPs) as carrier systems for targeted treatment of cancer. Human serum albumin (HSA), the most abundant human blood protein, can form HSAPs via a desolvation and crosslinking method, with the size of the HSAPs having crucial importance for drug loading and in vivo performance. Gold nanoparticles have also gained medicinal attention due to their ability to absorb near-infrared (NIR) light. These relatively non-toxic particles offer combinational therapy via imaging and photothermal therapy (PPTT) capabilities.

A desolvation and crosslinking approach was employed to encapsulate gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), hollow gold nanoshells (AuNSs), …