The design and assembly of responsive materials underpins the development of particle carriers for biomedical applications. This presentation will detail various assembly strategies and chemistries to generate multifunctional and responsive particles. Recent studies on the development of nanostructured polymer particles for efficient cargo encapsulation, triggered release and antibody-mediated targeting will be highlighted. Examples on the application of these particles loaded with oligonucleotides and peptides to stimulate immune responses will be given. It will be shown that engineered particles with well-controlled physicochemical properties can be used to uncover several key principles that govern particle-cell interactions. For example, redox-responsive capsules associate with cells in a time-dependent manner, which is mediated by the exofacial thiols on cell membranes, and during endocytosis, the particles distort in shape and accumulate in lysosomal compartments. Furthermore, the role of shape of engineered particles on cellular interactions will be discussed. The assembly of organic ligands with metal ions will also be presented, highlighting metal-ligand complexation as a facile approach to generate particles that can disassemble under cellular conditions. It is expected that such engineered particle systems represent a class of novel materials for therapeutic delivery as well as an interesting paradigm to attain detailed knowledge of complex nano-bio interactions. This knowledge may aid in the rational design of nanoengineered materials (beyond particle systems) for biological applications.

Biological interactions of layer-by-layer engineered particles

251st National Meeting (2016)

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