Title: Linear and Star-like Functionalized Polycaprolactones for Micellar Drug Delivery
Speaker: Katherine Washington
Date: Thursday, November 2, 2017
Time: 10:00am – 11:00am
Location: NIA, Room 137
Abstract: There have been many efforts focused toward improving the delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs such as doxorubicin in order to increase their solubility and minimize their toxic side effects. The encapsulation of these drugs within polymeric micelle systems offers an opportunity to allow for more control over their delivery, as well as their release. Polycaprolactones make good candidates for drug delivery due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. Amphiphilic polycaprolactone block copolymers can be synthesized from the ring-opening polymerization of functionalized caprolactone monomers. These functionalities can provide the resulting polymer with tunable properties such as hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, and temperature responsiveness. In addition, these substituents can impact the size, stability, and drug loading capacity. In order to optimize these delivery systems and improve their loading of doxorubicin, several linear and star-like polymers are explored and coloading techniques are examined.
Biography: Katherine Washington recently completed her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas in August 2017. Prior to that she received her BS in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas. Her research has been focused on developing drug delivery systems using functionalized polycaprolactones. During her time in graduate school she coauthored 15 publications, with 5 of them as a first author. She was also a recipient of the Eric Moore Chemistry Graduate Student Scholarship and presented at the Excellence at Graduate Polymer Research symposium during the ACS national meeting in the spring of 2017.