Development of degradable nanostructured biomaterials

目前的纳米技术借鉴了聚合物化学的研究，专注于开发具有生物应用潜力的多功能纳米设备。刺激响应性降解一直是开发新型纳米材料的一种选择方法。定义良好的两亲性嵌段共聚物(ABPs)包括亲水和疏水嵌段，已被用作构建块，通过自组装来构建有效的纳米结构材料。 聚乳酸及其共聚物具有良好的生物相容性和FDA批准的临床应用，然而，聚乳酸纳米材料成功生物应用的一个关键问题是改善包埋生物分子的缓慢和不受控制的释放。 这项生物界面聚合物化学的研究计划致力于开发具有各种结构和功能的先进的聚乳酸基可降解生物材料。这些纳米材料将由定义明确的ABPs组成，其中包含可切割的聚乳酸(CPLA)块，该块可在外部刺激(低pH、硫醇和光)的作用下进行切割，以确保包裹的分子快速、可控地释放，从而在智能递送中提供多功能性。我们的研究成果有望推动疏水性脂肪族聚酯在医药领域的广泛应用。此外，我们的研究计划将超越最初的范围，在生物界面上解决聚合物和材料科学的其他领域的问题。

Current nanotechnology, drawing from research in polymer chemistry, has focused on the development of multifunctional nanoscale devices that have potential for biological application. Stimuli-responsive degradation has been a method of choice for the development of novel nanomaterials. Well-defined amphiphilic block copolymers (ABPs), comprising both hydrophilic and hydrophobic blocks, have been used as building blocks to construct effective nanostructured materials through self-assembly. Polylactide (PLA) and its copolymers are biocompatible and FDA-approved for clinical use; however, one critical problem for successful biological applications of PLA-based nanomaterials is to improve the slow and uncontrolled release of encapsulated biomolecules. This research program in polymer chemistry at the biology interface focuses on the development of advanced PLA-based degradable bionanomaterials with various architectures and functionalities. These nanomaterials will be made of well-defined ABPs containing a cleavable PLA (cPLA) block that cleaves in response to external stimuli (low pH, thiols, and light) to ensure rapid, controllable release of encapsulated molecules, thus providing versatility in smart delivery. Our research results are expected to promote hydrophobic aliphatic polyesters toward widespread pharmaceutical application. Further, our research program will be expanded beyond the initial scope to address problems in other areas of polymer and materials science at the biology interface.