Biocompatible self-immolative polymers: Towards traceless medical devices
Standing
Undergraduate
Type of Proposal
Oral Research Presentation
Faculty
Faculty of Science
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. John Trant
Proposal
Stimuli-responsive self-immolative polymers have become a popular area of study in chemistry recently, as they can be used in drug delivery, sensory materials, plastics, and more. Self-immolative polymers are unstable polymers that spontaneously depolymerize from head to tail into smaller molecules. These polymers can be stabilized by attaching an end-cap and will remain stable until the endcap is removed by an external stimulus such as pH, light, heat, enzymes, or redox potential. Once the end-cap is removed these polymers will undergo a fast decomposition. These polymers can be used in drug encapsulation, delivery, and release in cancer treatments, with the hydrophobic toxic materials encapsulated in the membrane and hydrophilic materials in the core of a vesicle. This project aims to develop self-immolative polymers with end-caps, to create non-toxic amphiphilic block copolymers based on biomolecules for various applications, especially peptide and drug delivery. In this project, amino acids are used as the base for the self-immolative polymers to use in the preparation of amphiphilic block copolymers, where both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic polymers will be self-immolative polymers that can self-assemble in aqueous solutions to form nanoparticles. On each residue, there is a free amine that has the potential to become a fluorescent tag, a biological ligand, or a cross-linkable moiety to a pharmacophore to create a prodrug. This project is focussing on using these biocompatible self-immolative polymers to create traceless medical devices.
Availability
March 29 12-3, March 31 2-3, April 1 12-3
Biocompatible self-immolative polymers: Towards traceless medical devices
Stimuli-responsive self-immolative polymers have become a popular area of study in chemistry recently, as they can be used in drug delivery, sensory materials, plastics, and more. Self-immolative polymers are unstable polymers that spontaneously depolymerize from head to tail into smaller molecules. These polymers can be stabilized by attaching an end-cap and will remain stable until the endcap is removed by an external stimulus such as pH, light, heat, enzymes, or redox potential. Once the end-cap is removed these polymers will undergo a fast decomposition. These polymers can be used in drug encapsulation, delivery, and release in cancer treatments, with the hydrophobic toxic materials encapsulated in the membrane and hydrophilic materials in the core of a vesicle. This project aims to develop self-immolative polymers with end-caps, to create non-toxic amphiphilic block copolymers based on biomolecules for various applications, especially peptide and drug delivery. In this project, amino acids are used as the base for the self-immolative polymers to use in the preparation of amphiphilic block copolymers, where both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic polymers will be self-immolative polymers that can self-assemble in aqueous solutions to form nanoparticles. On each residue, there is a free amine that has the potential to become a fluorescent tag, a biological ligand, or a cross-linkable moiety to a pharmacophore to create a prodrug. This project is focussing on using these biocompatible self-immolative polymers to create traceless medical devices.