Dendrimer-polymer based nano-systems for combined diagnosis and therapy

COLL 44

Adah Almutairi, Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, 702 Latimer Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 and Jean M. J. Frechet, Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Advances in polymer and dendrimer syntheses have enabled the construction of novel nano-scale systems with unique properties and functions, some especially suited for biological and medical applications.

Nano-structures functionalized at the core and peripheries with targeting, imaging and therapeutic agents have been prepared. To achieve this, orthogonal protecting and functional group synthetic strategies were employed, thus permitting the combination of diagnosis and therapy into one integrated nano-system. Aliphatic polyester dendrimer-poly ethylene oxide hybrids have been used as chemical building blocks, enabling facile tuning of the hydrodynamic volume, which influences the blood residence time, to meet the bioavailability needs of the attached imaging modality or drug.

Nano-carriers transporting both diagnostic and therapeutic agents are being studied, by a multidisciplinary team of researchers, using three imaging modalities: Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Near Infra-Red (NIR) Tomography. Progress towards improved bioavailability, efficacy, and resolution will be discussed.

 

Advances in Nanomedicine
8:30 AM-12:20 PM, Sunday, 10 September 2006 Sir Francis Drake -- Monterey/Cypress Rooms, Oral

Division of Colloid & Surface Chemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006