Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Reactive Chemistries For Protein Labeling, Degradation, And Stimuli Responsive Delivery, Myrat Kurbanov

Doctoral Dissertations

Reactive chemistries for protein chemical modification play an instrumental role in chemical biology, proteomics, and therapeutics. Depending on the application, the selectivity of these modifications can range from precise modification of an amino acid sequence by genetic manipulation of protein expression machinery to a stochastic modification of lysine residues on the protein surface. Ligand-Directed (LD) chemistry is one of the few methods for targeted modification of endogenous proteins without genetic engineering. However, current LD strategies are limited by stringent amino acid selectivity. To bridge this gap, this thesis focuses on the development of highly reactive LD Triggerable Michael Acceptors (LD-TMAcs) …

Developing Injectable And Implantable Polymer Zwitterion Platforms For Glioblastoma Treatment, Sarah Ward

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation describes the synthesis, characterization, and application of novel polymer zwitterion-drug conjugates intended for treating glioblastoma, with a particular focus on phosphorylcholine (PC) and temozolomide (TMZ). Using versatile TMZ-containing monomers, injectable polymer prodrugs and implantable polymeric hydrogels were prepared over a broad range of drug incorporations with tunable properties, making them ideally suited for further in vivo and clinical evaluations. The work presented here greatly expands the knowledge base of TMZ formulations and gives rise to several routes which circumvent the challenges associated with its use. Chapter 2 describes the incorporation of a novel TMZ-methacrylate monomer into random and …

Swelling Induced Deformation Of Thermally Responsive Hydrogels, Ying Zhou

Doctoral Dissertations

Hydrogels are crosslinked polymeric networks imbibed with aqueous solutions. They undertake dramatic volume changes through swelling and deswelling processes, which can be stimulated by factors like temperature, pH or different chemicals. These unique properties render hydrogels particularly interesting for shape morphing related applications. In this thesis, we focus on the swelling induced deformation of thermally responsive hydrogels with lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs), including poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) and poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PDEAm). Particularly, benzophenone containing monomers are copolymerized with NIPAm or DEAm to create photocrosslinkable temperature-responsive polymers, which allows fabrication of hydrogels with controlled shapes and crosslinking …

Vitreous Gel Physics, Svetlana Morozova

Doctoral Dissertations

The transparent vitreous, which fills the posterior cavity of the eye, is incredibly engineered. The charged polyelectrolyte hyaluronic acid (HA) network swells to maintain the pressure in the eye, while stiff collagen type II bundles help absorb any external mechanical shock. Our investigations have contributed to a few key developments related to the physical properties of the vitreous: (1) The stiff collagen network that supports the soft gel network is self-assembled from single triple-helix collagen proteins. Electrostatic interactions drive this assembly, such that the size and concentration are optimized at physiological salt concentrations. The width of the assemblies remarkably changes …

Hybrid Micellar Network Hydrogels Of Thermosensitive Hydrophilic Triblock Copolymers And Thermosensitive Hairy Nanoparticles, Bin Hu

Doctoral Dissertations

Hybrid micellar network hydrogels, composed of thermosensitive hydrophilic triblock copolymers and thermosensitive polymer brush-grafted nanoparticles (hairy NPs), exhibit intriguing rheological properties. This dissertation work studies thermosensitive hybrid hydrogels with NPs positioned either inside or outside the core of block copolymer micelles.

Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 examines the effect of NP’s location on properties of hybrid hydrogels of a thermosensitive ABA triblock copolymer and hairy NPs. Two batches of thermoresponsive polymer brush-grafted silica NPs and an ABA triblock copolymer with thermosensitive outer blocks were prepared. When the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of hairy NPs was similar to …

Polyacrylamide And Its Derivatives For Oil Recovery, Zun Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

"Polyacrylamide is an umbrella term used to describe the homo-polymer of acrylamide and the copolymer of acrylamide with a small amount of other monomers. Owing to their superior property on increasing viscosity and gelling ability in the presence of crosslinkers, polyacrylamides has become the primarily selection for polymer flooding and gel treatment agent in enhanced oil recovery. Recent developments, performance, applications and limitations of polyacrylamides and its derivatives, including copolymers and hydrogels for enhancing oil recovery are reviewed.

A water-free suspension system was developed to synthesize PAMs and PAMs-microgel. Products are dry particle powder and ready to disperse in water. …