Chemistry Project Abstract
ENGINEERING VESICULAR POLYMERIC PRODRUGS FOR ORAL DRUG DELIVERY
Presenter:
Mimi E. Kim, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL, 60506; swtxkrn@imsa.edu
Mentor:
Dr. Anthony Lowman, Drexel University, College of Engineering, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104; 215-865-2228; alowman@drexel.edu
Abstract:
Therapeutic molecules, such as anti-psychotic drugs, may have toxic effects on the body because they work on the entire body, not just the area of interest. With a system that would provide for a release of the drug for an extended period of days to weeks, patients would benefit greatly from the accurate and targeted release of the drug. Polymeric micelles prepared from amphiphilic block copolymers have sparked much interest as potential drug carriers. The objective of this research was to synthesize and characterize biodegradeable, polymersomes, liposome-like, tough vesicles, of terpolymers of poly(ethylene glycol-b-(lactic acid), which is a block copolymer that consists of methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) conjugated with the model drug of haloperidol, or Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug. Using light scattering spectroscopy, the efficiencies between polymersomes with conjugated drug and polymersomes with free drug were compared.