The goal of this project is to advance understanding of how the structural features of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) impact their performance and inform improvements in biomedical applications such as cancer therapy. To accomplish this goal, the following objectives have been set forth: 1) Develop a comprehensive repository of MOF performance data for biomedical applications in quantitative measures; 2) Analyze a series of MOFs (UiO-66(Zr), MIL-100(Fe) and ZIF-8) and their structural analogs controlling for pore size, metallic center, and ligand substituents for comparative performance in biomedical applications; and 3) Determine the impact of silica coating on the stability, toxicity, and drug delivery capabilities of MOFs. The hypothesis is that silica-coated MOFs will exhibit greater stability, more targeted cellular uptake, and more controllable drug release mechanism than their uncoated counterparts. Analogs of UiO-66, include UiO-67 and UiO-68 which are made from biphenyl and terphenyl analogs, respectively, to provide important information on pore size. MIL-100(Al, Fe and Cr) will be investigated to provide information on the significance of the metal base. From the ZIF-8 family, analogs contain 2-ethylimidazole and the non-methylated form of ZIF-8 instead of 2-methylimidazole will be investigated for comparison. These investigations will lead to insight on the development of new MOFs with improved properties in biomedicine for future work. Physiological stability will be determined using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) after exposure to a phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 7.4 at 37oC. Cytotoxicity will be determined by MTT assays. Prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP, PC3, and DU145 will be used. Lastly, a method to reduce toxicity, increase stability, and improve targeting capabilities by silica coating will be developed, which opens potential for MOFs that had previously not been considered due to lack of biocompatibility.

Structure property relationships of metal-organic frameworks for anticancer applications

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.