In the area of drug delivery, we focus on design of polymers for controlled delivery of therapeutic agents. One interest of ours is in designing pH-sensitive delivery systems whereby delivery of a therapeutic is facilitated by reduction in pH such as is observed in the tumor interstitium or in the endosome. Recently, we developed catechol-containing polymers for pH dependent delivery of the approved anticancer drug bortezomib (Velcade®). Velcade is a small molecule proteasome inhibitor that contains a boronic acid functional group. We formed polymer complexes between catechol polymers and Velcade, which exhibited pH dependent release of Velcade due to the pH sensitivity of the complex between catechol and boronic acid (Figure). This approach has the potential to aid in more effective delivery of the drug to tumor tissue and to reduce side effects associated with systemic exposure.
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Drug Delivery
Lab News
- Congratulations to Katerina and Peyman on their paper published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces!
- The lab welcomes new postdocs Jisoo Shin and Joakim Engstrom!
- Congratulations to Brylee D. Tiu, Peyman Delparastan and Max Ney on the publication of their paper in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces!
- Congratulations to Cody on his paper published in Angewandte Chemie!
- Congratulations to Sally Winkler for being named a Siebel Scholar!
- Congratulations to Jing on her paper published in ACS Nano!
- Congratulations to Devang for completing his MD/PhD!
- Congratulations to Sally on the publication of her review “Biomaterials in Fetal Surgery”!
- Congratulations to Peyman for Winning March Materials Madness!
- Congratulations to Dirk and Sally on their review published in European Polymer Journal!
Upcoming Talks by Group Members
"Mussel-inspired Hydrogel Adhesives for Pre-sealing the Fetal Membranes in Fetal Surgery" presented by Sally Winkler at the Biomedical Engineering Society(BMES) annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA - Thursday Oct. 17, 2019.
Recent Talks by Group Members
“Molecular Mechanics and Applications of Mussel Adhesive Proteins and Their Synthetic Mimics”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the International Conference on Adhesion in Aqueous Media: From Biology to Synthetic Materials, Dresden, Germany, September 9-12, 2019.
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“Interfacial Molecular Force Spectroscopy of Bioinspired Catecholamine Macromolecules”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the ACS Colloid Symposium, Atlanta, GA, June, 2019.
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“Molecular Mechanics of Mussel Inspired Coatings”, presented by Peyman Delparastan at the Materials Research Society Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, April 22-26, 2019.
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“Interfacial and Bulk Molecular Phenomena in Mussel Adhesive Proteins and Their Synthetic Polymer Mimics”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, April 15, 2019.
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"Engineering mussel-inspired surgical glue for fetal surgery" presented by Sally Winkler at Santa Clara University, April 18, 2019
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“Molecular Mechanical Characterization of Bioinspired Catecholamine Polymers at Interfaces”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the American Chemical Society Meeting, Orlando, FL, March 31-April 2, 2019.
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“Injectable Dynamic Covalent Hydrogels of Boronic Acid Polymers Cross-linked by Bioactive Plant-derived Polyphenols”, presented by Peyman Delparastan at the Society for Biomaterials Meeting, Seattle, WA, April 3-6, 2019.
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“Interfacial and Bulk Molecular Phenomena in Mussel Adhesive Proteins and Their Synthetic Polymer Mimics”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the University of California, Davis, CA, April 9, 2019.
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"Mussel-Inspired Pressure Sensitive Adhesives" presented by Peyman Delparastan at the Spring 2019 CARA Review Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 28-29, 2019.
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“Supramolecular Polymer Prodrugs for Drug-Induced Regeneration”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the ICMS Outreach Symposium 2019, Institute for Complex Molecular systems, Technical University of Eindhoven, Eindhoven, Netherlands, March 12, 2019.
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“Adhesive Polymers and Coatings Inspired by Mussels and Plant Polyphenols”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the University of Tokyo, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tokyo, Japan, January 18, 2019.
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“Molecular Mechanics of Mussel Inspired Polymers and Coatings”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the American Physical Society Meeting, Boston, MA, March 4-5, 2019.
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“Interfacial and Bulk Molecular Phenomena in Mussel Adhesive Proteins and Their Synthetic Mimics”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the Annual Symposium of the Macromolecular Science & Engineering Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, October 25, 2018.
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“Shear-Thinning and Self-Assembling Polymer Prodrugs for Drug-Induced Tissue Regeneration”, presented by Prof. Messersmith at the Polymers in Medicine and Biology Workshop, Napa, CA, September 9-12, 2018.
http://polyacs.net/Workshops/18Biomed/program.html