LEAPS-MPS: CAS:Stimuli-Responsive Biodegradable Polymeric Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

University Of North Dakota Main Campus, Grand Forks ND

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). In this project, funded by the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and housed in the Chemistry Division, Professor Binglin Sui and his students will work to develop a series of stimuli-responsive, biocompatible and biodegradable polymers and polymer-based nanomaterials that can be extensively utilized in the biological and medical worlds. Biosafety and sustainability have become two critical issues of bio-oriented nanomaterials with the rapid development of nanotechnology, resulting from the fact that those materials with nanoscale sizes could not be eliminated from the body and their accumulation in the body is likely to induce chronic systemic toxicities. The new polymers that Prof. Sui will develop consist of biodegradable polymer chains containing bio-cleavable chemical bonds. Therefore, in biological and physiological environments, the polymers and polymer-based nanomaterials will gradually break down and eventually turn into nontoxic small molecules in the body, devoid of biosafety and sustainability concerns. Prof. Sui will use cancer-related biomedical applications of the new materials to promote students’ awareness of human health issues and to get graduate and undergraduate students as well as the underrepresented Native American students from tribal colleges in North Dakota engaged in the research. Prof. Sui proposes to address the challenges of nanomaterials that are currently preventing the majority of materials with nanoscale sizes from biomedical applications, especially for bioimaging and nanomedicine. To that end, the new polymers are composed of biodegradable backbones containing bio-cleavable chemical bonds and stimuli-responsive and self-immolative side chains, bestowing the polymeric nanosystems capabilities of covalent conjugation of diagnostic, therapeutic, and genetic agents; controllable traceless-release of the conjugated agents on demand with maximal agent-releasing efficiency; and decomposition into nontoxic small molecules in the body after liberating loaded cargos, inducing no long-term concerns of biosafety and sustainability. The development of such materials expects to advance the evolution of bioimaging and nanomedicine into a biosafe, more reliable, and more efficient technique compared to traditional medicinal methods for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases. Furthermore, the proposed strategy for solving the critical issues will pave the way for the development of more and more biosafe and sustainable polymers and nanomaterials. Prof. Sui plans to involve graduate and undergraduate students, especially underrepresented minority students in STEM fields, as well as high school students in the project to broaden the integration of research and participation-oriented outreach activities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.