Organic Materials Core

Director:
Roger Marchant, Ph.D.

The Materials Core Facility will provide BRTT members with a synthetic and labeling facility for the development of novel biopolymers for drug nanopackaging, implementation of imaging probes in labeling drug carriers, and pharmacokinetic studies of drug and drug nanocarriers. The facility has capability for synthesis of biocompatible, biodegradable polymers, contrast agents, and conjugation of these molecules with functional molecules (e.g. cRGD ligand, Herceptin antibody). The core will provide two levels of service. At the entry level, the core will help users establish standard protocols that are validated in the literature, with special tailoring to specific applications, such as the development of amphiphilic polymers that self-assemble into polymer micelles for direct solubilization of hydrophobic drugs, conjugation of targeting ligands to existing nano delivery systems and controlling the drug release rates. At the research and development level, the core will collaborate with the users to develop novel polymer materials, nanocarrier systems and protocols that are not reported in the literature. For example, the Core could assist with development of pH-sensitive amphiphilic polymers to provide pH-triggered endosomal release, and polymer micelles with loading of super paramagnetic iron oxide particles to introduce imaging sensitivity under magnetic resonance imaging for non-invasive monitoring of drug distribution. We anticipate 2/3 of the core facility will be dedicated to entry level service and 1/3 to research level service. A start-up fee will be charged to absorb costs related to initiation of any episode of sample and protocol development. Per-sample fees will be charged to absorb material cost and characterization after start-up.

The Materials Core will utilize existing synthetic and material characterization facilities in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (Table 1). The core will also have full access to other on-campus facilities including scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for further material characterization. Potential users for the core facility include Drs. Boothman, Olenick, Pagel, Davis, and researchers from Ricerca, LLC, and Ferro Corporations.