Novel nanogels that possess the capacity to change their physico-chemical properties in response to external stimuli are promising drug-delivery candidates for the treatment of severe skin diseases. As thermoresponsive nanogels (tNGs) are capable of enhancing penetration through biological barriers such as the stratum corneum and are taken up by keratinocytes of human skin, potential adverse co...

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) show potential for the treatment of a wide variety of pathologies with a known genetic origin through sequence-specific gene silencing. However, siRNAs do not have favorable drug-like properties and need to be packaged into nanoscopic carriers that are designed to guide the siRNA to the cytoplasm of the target cell. In this report biodegradable cationic dextran n...

Responsive catalytic hybrid nanogels with Au nanoparticle cores and a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) based gel shell are prepared through a novel one-pot approach. The embedded Au nanoparticles demonstrate both a pH-modulated catalytic activity and anti-aggregation properties upon recycling.

DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF A NEW CLASS OF SELF-CROSS-LINKED POLYMER NANOGELS MAY 2011 SIRIPORN JIWPANICH B.Sc., CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY M.Sc., CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Sankaran Thayumanavan The design and engineering of nanoscopic drug delivery vehicles that stably encapsulate lipophilic drug molecules, transport their loaded cargo...

Drug releasing shape memory polymers (SMPs) were prepared from poly(thiourethane) networks that were coated with drug loaded nanogels through a UV initiated, surface mediated crosslinking reaction. Multifunctional thiol and isocyanate monomers were crosslinked through a step-growth mechanism to produce polymers with a homogeneous network structure that exhibited a sharp glass transition with 97...

Nanogels are hydrogels formed by connecting nanoscopic micelles dispersed in an aqueous medium, which give an opportunity for incorporating hydrophilic payloads to the exterior of the micellar networks and hydrophobic payloads in the core of the micelles. Biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of nanogels have been explored for tissue regeneration, wound healing, surgical device, implantati...

Alginate microparticles and nanoparticles crosslinked with Ca+2 ions are frequently employed in biomedical applications. Here we use microemulsion polymerization to prepare alginate nanoparticles (nanogels) using different crosslinking ions (Ca+2, Sr+2, Ba+2) to encapsulate a model protein, urease enzyme (jackbeans). With alginate concentrations of 0.2wt% in the aqueous phase, emulsion droplets...

Nanoparticles possessing multiple functionalities provide synthetic handles for varied surface chemistries, making them useful for a range of applications such as biotargeting and drug delivery. However, the combination of interfering functionalities on the same particle is often challenging. We have employed a synthetic scheme involving chemical protection/deprotection to combine interfering f...

Nanogels are nano-sized three-dimensional polymer networks engineered by physical or chemical cross-linking of individual polymer chains loaded with drugs and nucleotides that swells in a good solvent