Dynamic nanospheres for individualized, localized drug delivery of chemotherapeutics and antibiotics
by Cole, Parker; Thornburgh, Savannah; Burnett, Bailey; Ozkizilcik, Asya; Tian, Z. Ryan; Carbonero, Franck
According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second major cause of death from non-communicable diseases worldwide (8.2 million in 2012), next only to cardiovascular diseases. In addn. to this, the expansion of antibiotic drug resistance is a growing menace due to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Utilizing nanomedicine as a mol. scale intervention for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, we are presenting a novel, biocompatible drug delivery platform that can be individualized to meet various oncol. and anti-microbial needs by integrating metallic nanoparticles with polymer chem. and liposomal bionanotechnol. As a model drug, methylene blue (MB) was used to elicit the properties of our basic-labile system. MB sustained a programmable release over a 48-h time interval in PBS simulated body fluid at 37oC. Ongoing research includes continuously optimizing pH-dependent release with various polymers, encapsulating the metallic nanoparticles with a lipid layer, and also performing biol. studies to gain further insight into our platform.