Therapeutic Materials via Molecular Engineering

Nanomedicine, the application of nanotechnology to healthcare, is revolutionising the medical field, by providing new effective solutions as therapeutics and diagnostics. One of the most promising applications of nanomedicine is in targeted delivery, where nanoparticles are engineered to carry active agents, including drugs, genes, etc, to specific cells or tissues in the body, thus reducing the drugs side effects and improving their efficacy. Nanoparticles can also be used to develop new diagnostic tools, for example by conjugation to antibodies that bind to specific disease markers for their detection. Our research focuses on the development of polymeric materials with applications in nanomedicine. With labs in both Chemistry and the Medical School, we take materials from their molecular design to their in vitro and in vivo applications, in fields including drug delivery, antimicrobials and antibacterial materials, diagnostics, and also as probes to investigate cell mechanisms. The lecture will present examples of our latest findings in the synthesis and applications of novel vectors for drug delivery and antimicrobial materials.