Project Theme 9: Combinatorially Designed Biomaterial Interfaces for Tissue Engineering and Gene Delivery
Faculty Advisors:
Kohn, Castner, & Talaga (CCB), Knight (MAE), Roth (CBE)
Crossdisciplinary Bridging:
Polymer Chemistry, Cell Biology, Chemical & Materials Engineering, Computational Design
A new set of comprehensive libraries of combinatorially synthesized bioactive polymers will be tested for protein adsorption and growth/differentiation behavior of model cells. The resultant data will be used to develop a wider structure-function space for finely graded members of the libraries, based on which materials for specific tissue engineering applications can be identified. In a similar vein, functionalizable hollow polymeric nanospheres (see picture) are being developed for the delivery of nucleic acids to target cells for therapeutic import. Optimization of these delivery vectors is a challenge in light of their multi-dimensional property-function space. The vast property space is parsed through the interplay of combinatorial synthesis, moderate-throughput screening and evaluation guided by mechanistic and surrogate modeling. Characterization of the local environments within bioactive polymers and polymeric nanospheres will be accomplished by use of fluorescence probe studies. Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy will provide detailed characterization of the microviscosity and polarity in these novel materials.
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