Stimuli responsive polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery applications

The development of functional polymeric nanoparticles is essential for breakthroughs in nanomedicine. By tuning the polymer characteristics and subsequently applying optimized formulations for the procedure of nanoparticles, tailored nanoparticles with varying release properties, degradation behavior, targeting groups and size distributions can be developed. For the preparation of polymeric nanoparticles, nanoprecipitation is a good choice since it is a facile, mild, and low energy input process. In combination with high-throughput devices such as microfluidics, pipetting robots, inkjet printers, and automated analytical instrumentation, the abilities of nanoprecipitation can broaden tremendously with significant effects on new applications. Selected examples in the field of gene- and drug delivery vehicles will be presented, e.g. dual pH-value and redox responsive nanoparticles and polymersomes based on a methacrylate copolymer library [1,2,3]. Also natural polymers, in particular dextran, are a great platform for the manufacture of responsive nanoparticles for gene delivery applications.

References: [1]   Yildirim, T.; Traeger, A.; Preussger, E.; Stumpf, S.; Fritzsche, C.; Hoeppener, S.; Schubert, S.; Schubert, U. S. Macromolecules 2016, 49, 3856−3868.; [2]Yildirim, T.; Yildirim, I.; Yanez-Machias, R.; Stumpf, S.; Fritzsche, C.; Hoeppener, S.; Guerrero-Sanchez, C.; Schubert, S.; Schubert, U. S. Polym. Chem. 2017, 8, 1328−1340. [3]Yildirim, T.; Traeger, A.; Sungur, P.; Hoeppener, S.; Kellner, C.; Yildirim, I.; Pretzel, D.; Schubert, S.; Schubert, U. S. Biomacromolecules 2017, 18, 3280–3290.[4] Cohen, J. L.; Schubert, S.; Wich, P. R.; Cui, L.; Cohen, J. A.; Mynar, J. L.; Frechet, J. M. J. Bioconjugate Chem. 2011, 22, 1056–1065.

Stephanie Schubert (née Hornig) was born in 1981 in Zwickau (Germany). She obtained her MS in chemistry at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) in 2005. After research activities at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, USA), she finished her PhD studies in 2008 in the field of polysaccharide chemistry. During a postdoctoral training with J. M. J. Frechét at Berkley UC (USA), she gained further experience in polymers as gene delivery devices. She currently working on projects related to nanoparticles for drug delivery and sensor application in the Pharmaceutical Department at the University Jena.