Organic/CBS Seminar – Shamila Gopalakrishnan
About the event
Speaker: Shamila Gopalakrishnan
Group: Prof. Anjali Sharma
Title: Designing Dendrimers and Dendritic Polymers for Targeted Drug Delivery
Abstract:
Dendrimers and dendritic polymers have gained significant interest in the field of drug delivery due to their unique properties such as multivalent surface, high degree of branching, and well-defined architecture. The aim of my research is to precisely design scalable dendrimers and dendric polymers- based nanomaterials using convenient synthetic methodologies for target-specific drug delivery applications. In the first project, building on the unique properties of dendrimers, we have rationally designed a dendrimer-cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) agonist conjugate (D-HU-308), capable of targeted intracellular release of the HU-308 in the diseased retina via systemic administration to treat proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). PVR is a vision-threatening medical condition and currently managed only through surgeries at the mature stage of the disease necessitating the need for non-invasive therapies. D- HU308 was successfully synthesized using a highly efficient click chemistry approach. Our fluorescently labeled dendrimer has demonstrated its ability to target the region of pathology in retina in vivo in a mouse model of PVR. In the second project, we are engineering hyaluronic acid (HA) based dendritic polymer using HA as a template and decorating it with dendrons to modify its viscoelastic properties and targetability for drug delivery applications. Although HA is widely explored in medical applications due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-immunogenicity, there are prominent synthetic challenges that have limited the emergence of its therapeutic usage via intravenous administration. HA can be considered as a “natural synthetic platform” since it has different functional groups to perform various chemistries for attachment of bioactive ligands. Adjusting the viscoelastic properties of dendritic HA and in vivo stability may lead to a better platform for drug delivery applications.