Campus Notices
TITLE OF THESIS: Development & Application Of Biomaterials For Drug Delivery
ABSTRACT
The fields of biomedicine and nanotechnology have mutually benefited from the development of efficient drug delivery system (DDS). DDS are biomaterials with biodegradable, biocompatible, environmentally responsive and targeting properties, which have significantly impacted the modern day health care system.
Since the first FDA approval of a drug delivery carrier, namely PLGA/leuprolide acetate in 1989, more than 10 biodegradable materials are now commercially available for the treatment of cancer, hormonal deficiency, edema, bipolar disorder, and for alcohol & opioid dependence. A range of inorganic (gold, silver, iron, and silica) and organic (polymers, dendrimers, micelles, and hydrogels) biomaterials have also been investigated and are being used as drug delivery carriers in clinical trials.
Biomaterials such as silica microparticles, hydrogels, organic and inorganic nanoparticles have been intensely studied for the delivery of small molecule therapeutics such as chemotherapeutics in research. Recently, proteins and peptide based therapeutics are increasingly recognized as novel drugs with applications ranging from immunological diseases to cancer. The stability and refolding of protein is one major problem in successful delivery of proteins in the human body. Proteins are biological molecules which easily denature by chemical physical and biological stresses. Hence the field of biomaterials provides an excellent platform for successful delivery of protein based drugs in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, thermally responsive hydrogels are being reported as unique macromolecular chaperones, which maintain weak non-covalent interactions with misfolded proteins and refold them into native form as a function of thermal flexibility of hydrogels.
The first chapter in this thesis will briefly review on the history & development of different biomaterials over the past few decades and their application as a drug delivery carrier. The second chapter will describe the research on the development and functionalization of diatomaceous earth embedded core shell materials, which are capable of encapsulating two chemotherapeutic drugs (doxorubicin and paclitaxel) at constant molar ratios, in different compartments of a single drug delivery carrier and show synergistic anticancer response in different cancer cell lines. Physiologically stable and stimuli-responsive β-Cyclodextrin capped diatomaceous earth microparticles are developed by the concept of host-guest chemistry. β-Cyclodextrin capped diatomaceous earth microparticles are prepared by covalent conjugation of adamantane (guest) molecules on silica scaffold, followed by their interactions with β-Cyclodextrin molecules via host guest complexation. Doxorubicin and paclitaxel were then encapsulated at different concentrations and locations within the self- assembled microparticles (shell of β-Cyclodextrin verses core of diatoms) via adsorption. The encapsulation of each drug in different compartments of delivery carrier (core of diatoms versus shell of Cyclodextrin) was then used as a method to control the release rate of both drugs in situ, and to maintain the optimal molar ratios of two drugs required for their synergistic outcomes in vitro. The results suggest that encapsulation of paclitaxel in diatomaceous earth microparticles core and of doxorubicin in β-Cyclodextrin:Adamantane corona, produces synergistic activities at all studied concentrations in cancer cell lines. Paclitaxel encapsulated in diatomaceous earth microparticles core is expected to facilitate slow release of hydrophobic drug in cell culture media as, only 7% of encapsulated hydrophobic drug is released over a period of 24 h, while release of doxorubicin from β- Cyclodextrin:Adamantane shell is complete (100%) within few hours of encapsulation. This difference in release profile of two drugs maintained molar ratio of doxorubicin/paclitaxel of 30 or higher in cell culture conditions, resulting in combinatorial index value of less than one and yielded synergistic response. In contrast, cells treated with doxorubicin loaded diatomaceous earth microparticles core and paclitaxel loaded shell resulted in the combinatorial index value of more than one and showed strong antagonistic activities for all studied concentrations of the drugs in cancer cell lines. The third chapter of this thesis describes the development of thermoresponsive hydrogels and explores the structural changes in hydrogels matrix. Poly (vitamin B5 analogous methacrylamide) P(B5AMA) hydrogels of different net charges, hydrophobicity and cross-linking densities were synthesized by a free radical polymerization method. The role of P(B5AMA) hydrogel for the restoration of enzymatic activity of thermally denatured enzymes (lysozyme and carbonic anhydrase), as a function of temperature and time and for the presence of residual water in the hydrogel architecture were then evaluated. The data reveals that water release efficacies of P(B5AMA)hydrogel at 37 °C are directly related to the enzymatic efficacies of proteins. The refolding efficacies of lysozyme and carbonic anhydrase in the presence of collapsed P(B5AMA) hydrogel (after the removal of free residual water) were 17.58 ± 0.6 and 36.5 ± 1.8, respectively and were comparable to the refolding efficacies of proteins in saline solution. The hydrated P(B5AMA) hydrogels, in contrast showed protein refolding efficacies of 65.4 ± 6.58 for lysozyme and 78.65 ± 1.97 for carbonic anhydrase. The fourth chapter of this thesis provides a brief conclusion and future directions to further explore the field of drug delivery. The facile synthesis and self-assembly of diatoms, β-Cyclodextrin and adamantane provides a great platform to encapsulate different drugs at constant feed ratios and optimize their response as a function of release rate of two drugs from the delivery carriers. The proven biocompatible nature of FDA approved materials utilized during the study suggests their accelerated evaluation and translation into clinical studies. On the other hand, hydrogel with promising protein renaturation efficacies were further evaluated for their interactions with denatured proteins, and the role of thermal flexibility of the hydrogel matrix in protein refolding capabilities was elucidated. Further studies are being conducted to evaluate the role of hydrogels in the restoration of the native structure of amyloid plaques for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Anyone who wishes to attend the public presentation should contact the grad studies coordinator at gsc@upei.ca to receive the link to the meeting.
The deadline for Animal Care Protocol Submissions (new, renewal, or amendment) is Friday, September 4th for the September meeting.
Please note that as of June 1, 2020 all animal user protocols must be submitted through UPEI Researcher Portal at https://upei.researchservicesoffice.com/Romeo.Researcher/
For new protocols select ‘applications’ and for renewal or amendment protocols select ‘events’.
To view any UPEI ACC SOPs and Codes of Practice, they can be accessed through myUPEI at https://portal.upei.ca/facultystaff/administrativeservices/AVCAnimalCare/Pages/default.aspx.
Those protocols received after the deadline will be reviewed the following month. The Committee requires at least one month for processing applications.
Join Accessibility Services for the session, “I've Received an Accommodation Letter Now What".
In this session, Accessibility Services will review the accommodation process, review accommodations that frequently generate questions, and review who is responsible for implementation. The session will take place online on September 2 at 1:00 pm.
To sign up for this session, please complete the following Google Form:
https://forms.gle/zjHNBwH7pdwdeJyWA
Please share with any colleagues you think would be interested in attending. We hope to see you there.
If you have taken the Blackboard Collaborate and/or Creating Interactive Content workshops you have a basic awareness around using Collaborate and H5P. Or maybe there is another topic you would like to dive deeper into with the help of the E-Learning Office? If you would now like to build some more practical skills in using a tool introduced to you by the E-Learning Office then consider getting together a few likeminded colleagues and booking a small group tutorial. These tutorials will provide you with an opportunity to move beyond just listening about the tool or idea to trying things out for yourself.
Group size: 4-6
Duration: 1-2 hrs
Delivery method: Online
Facilitated by: The E-Learning Office
You can provide a list of questions or specific topics you want covered or the E-Learning Office can create a tutorial for your group.
Book a tutorial for your group
Not certain you can get a group together but would still like to sign up? If there are enough individuals who sign up then we can put together a tutorial for you.
Online Employee and Spouse/Dependent Tuition Waive
The deadline for Fall 2020 Tuition Waivers is August 19, 2020. We encourage you to have tuition waivers
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Walsh at: (902) 566-0514 or HRgeneral@upei.ca.
The deadline for Animal Care Protocol Submissions (new, renewal, or amendment) is Friday, September 4th for the September meeting.
Please note that as of June 1, 2020 all animal user protocols must be submitted through UPEI Researcher Portal at https://upei.researchservicesoffice.com/Romeo.Researcher/
For new protocols select ‘applications’ and for renewal or amendment protocols select ‘events’.
To view any UPEI ACC SOPs and Codes of Practice, they can be accessed through myUPEI at https://portal.upei.ca/facultystaff/administrativeservices/AVCAnimalCare/Pages/default.aspx.
Those protocols received after the deadline will be reviewed the following month. The Committee requires at least one month for processing applications.
Don and Marion McDougall Hall
Wildwood Masonry will begin brick repointing on the east and south sides of Don and Marion McDougall Hall (original building) on Monday, August 17, 2020 it is expected to take approximately 3 weeks to complete the work (weather dependent).
The grinding work will cause some dust, therefore the contractor will be using a dust extraction system.
The windows in the area should be kept closed during the work to keep any dust outside of the building.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jackie MacPhail at jmacphail@upei.ca or 902-566-6034.
Starting Monday, August 17, UPEI mail will resume delivery to the campus mailboxes in the Kelley Building. Please use your best judgement on social distancing when collecting your mail as the hallway is quite narrow. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shipping & Receiving at shipping@upei.ca
Online Employee and Spouse/Dependent Tuition Waive
The deadline for Fall 2020 Tuition Waivers is August 19, 2020. We encourage you to have tuition waivers
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Walsh at: (902) 566-0514 or HRgeneral@upei.ca.
In this workshop we will go over the importance of course intro videos(especially during this time), what should be included in your course intro video and a few simple ways you can create these videos on your own. This session will be hosted online with limited spaces.
August 19th, 2020 - 2pm-3pm
Reminder! The Arts and Sciences reading group is meeting Monday, August 17, at 10:30am, to discuss chapters 4 and 5 from Kevin Gannon's book, Radical Hope: a teaching manifesto. The book is available through Robertson Library here. Let Greg Doran know if you're coming at gdoran@upei.ca, and he'll send you the Zoom details. Questions? Contact Greg or Ann Braithwaite, abraithwaite@upei.ca. Hope to see there!
Join Accessibility Services for the session, “I've Received an Accommodation Letter Now What".
In this session, Accessibility Services will review the accommodation process, review accommodations that frequently generate questions, and review who is responsible for implementation. The session will take place online on September 2 at 1:00 pm.
To sign up for this session, please complete the following Google Form:
https://forms.gle/zjHNBwH7pdwdeJyWA
Please share with any colleagues you think would be interested in attending. We hope to see you there.
Troy Life & Fire Safety will be performing the annual fire alarm inspections for the remainder of the buildings on the following dates. As part of these inspections, there will be testing of alarms. There will be an audible notification stating that this is a test at the beginning of testing and again when the testing is completed. The building occupants are not required to evacuate during the testing period. The ringing of alarms is required to test their function and to ensure the speakers work throughout the building. This will be a small portion (up to 2 hours) of the total time they are in the building.
Blanchard Hall: August 12th
Bernardine Hall: August 13th
Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall: August 14th
Bill & Denise Andrew Hall: August 17th - 18th
Atlantic Veterinary College: August 24th - 28th
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jackie MacPhail at jmacphail@upei.ca.
Online Employee and Spouse/Dependent Tuition Waive
The deadline for Fall 2020 Tuition Waivers is August 19, 2020. We encourage you to have tuition waivers
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Walsh at: (902) 566-0514 or HRgeneral@upei.ca.
The UPEI Alumni Association is calling for individuals to join its Board of Directors for a three-year term, beginning in September, 2020
Nominees must:
- be a graduate of UPEI, SDU, or PWC
- desire to strengthen alumni/university connections
- want to enhance the experiences of current students
- attend 4 to 5 meetings a year
- be willing to serve as chair/member of a committee
To nominate yourself or someone you know, or for more information, contact the Alumni office at alumni@upei.ca. Include name, graduation year, and any experiences/interests that would make the nominee a valuable board member.
Please submit nominations by August 28, 2020.
Reminder! The Arts and Sciences reading group is meeting Monday, August 17, at 10:30am, to discuss chapters 4 and 5 from Kevin Gannon's book, Radical Hope: a teaching manifesto. The book is available through Robertson Library here. Let Greg Doran know if you're coming at gdoran@upei.ca, and he'll send you the Zoom details. Questions? Contact Greg or Ann Braithwaite, abraithwaite@upei.ca. Hope to see there!
If you have taken the Blackboard Collaborate and/or Creating Interactive Content workshops you have a basic awareness around using Collaborate and H5P. Or maybe there is another topic you would like to dive deeper into with the help of the E-Learning Office? If you would now like to build some more practical skills in using a tool introduced to you by the E-Learning Office then consider getting together a few likeminded colleagues and booking a small group tutorial. These tutorials will provide you with an opportunity to move beyond just listening about the tool or idea to trying things out for yourself.
Group size: 4-6
Duration: 1-2 hrs
Delivery method: Online
Facilitated by: The E-Learning Office
You can provide a list of questions or specific topics you want covered or the E-Learning Office can create a tutorial for your group.
Book a tutorial for your group
Not certain you can get a group together but would still like to sign up? If there are enough individuals who sign up then we can put together a tutorial for you.
Online Employee and Spouse/Dependent Tuition Waive
The deadline for Fall 2020 Tuition Waivers is August 19, 2020. We encourage you to have tuition waivers
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Walsh at: (902) 566-0514 or HRgeneral@upei.ca.
The UPEI Scholarships and Awards Office is accepting applications and nominations for the 2020 MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing.
In July 2011, the family of Harry and Marjorie MacLauchlan of Stanhope, PEI made another leadership gift to UPEI to create a substantial program of awards to encourage and recognize student writing achievement. The gift is to honour H. Wade MacLauchlan’s twelve years of service as UPEI president and vice-chancellor, and to recognize the importance of effective writing as a foundational skill for academic success and lifelong learning.
The MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing is the largest such student-oriented program in Canada.
A total of 60 awards valued at $500 each are available in 2020 for successful applicants.
Returning undergraduate students, faculty, and staff are eligible to apply for a MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing based on criteria for four categories:
MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Community)
MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Course Work)
MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Faculty and Staff)
MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Webster Centre)
The UPEI learning community is encouraged to review the four categories of prizes for details on submission criteria. The deadline for submissions is October 6, 2020.
For more information, please contact scholarships@upei.ca.
Join Accessibility Services for the session, “I've Received an Accommodation Letter Now What".
In this session, Accessibility Services will review the accommodation process, review accommodations that frequently generate questions, and review who is responsible for implementation. The session will take place online on September 2 at 1:00 pm.
To sign up for this session, please complete the following Google Form:
https://forms.gle/zjHNBwH7pdwdeJyWA
Please share with any colleagues you think would be interested in attending. We hope to see you there.
