Bioengineering functional polymer systems for glycan-based targeting and drug release

Abstract

Bioengineering drug delivery facilitates re-potentiation of existing drugs and drug candidates, bypassing hurdles in novel drug development and accelerating the advance of medicine. Drug delivery strategies aim to enhance therapeutic effect by enhancing delivery to the target cells or tissues, while curtailing adverse off-target effects. Existing approaches include liposomes, polymeric miscelle, protein-based nanoparticles, antibody-drug conjugates, dendrimers, and polymer drug conjugates. These systems provide the framework for the addition of additional functionalities, including modalities enabling targeting or controlled drug release. This thesis describes two projects utilizing the same RAFT-based polymerization strategy to synthesize polymer-drug conjugates, incorporating different modalities to enable glycan-based targeting to the Pseudomonas a. biofilm and to extend drug release within polymer-drug conjugate manufactured into nanofibers.