Materials World Network: "New Functionalized Hybrid Systems for Biosensing and drug Delivery"

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

The ability of molecules to navigate between membranes is key to many biological processes. For example, the transport of drugs across cell membranes often determines their efficacy. The objective of this project is to build artificial nanostructures to enable the study of the motion and concentration of molecules across interfaces, and to develop means to trap and release drug molecules within a nanostructure. The project investigates parameters that allow for the loading and the slow release of drugs under appropriate physiological conditions. The work encompasses new methods of trapping molecules into porous nanostructures, and new methods of monitoring the porous nanostructures using the optical properties of the materials. The European partners in this effort are Drs. Frederique Cunin, Bernard Coq, and Jean-Marie Devoisselle of the CNRS Institut Charles Gerhardt, in Montpellier, France. The Montpellier lab has played a major role in the development and commercialization of liposome-based drug delivery materials in France, and the previous NSF-funded collaborative project has expanded the breadth of this effort significantly. The drug delivery and pharmaceutical characterization expertise of the Montpellier group combines with the nanomaterials design and optics expertise of the Sailor research group. The project features exchange of students between the two labs for durations of 2-4 months each year.