Emerging Technology and Best Practices Seminar Series

Nanotechnology in Medicine: From Diagnostics to Therapeutics

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Biodendrimers for Drug Delivery Applications

Mark Grinstaff, Ph.D.

Dendritic macromolecules are versatile materials for medical applications since the structure, molecular weight, and chemical composition can be precisely controlled. We have reported the synthesis and characterization of polyester, polyester-ether, and polyamide dendrimers and dendrons composed of biocompatible building blocks for medical applications. These dendritic macromolecules can be subsequently crosslinked to form hydrogels using a photochemical acrylate-based or a chemical ligation strategy. The properties – mechanical, swelling, degradation, etc. – of the hydrogels can be tuned by altering the composition, crosslinking chemistry, wt%, generation number and so forth. Theses dendrimers and hydrogels have been used successfully in four unique applications: hydrogel adhesives for repairing corneal wounds, hydrogel scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering, hydrogel reaction chambers for high throughput screening of molecular recognition events, and vehicles for delivering anti-cancer agents. In this lecture, I will focus on the synthesis and characterization of these macromolecules and their use delivery anti-cancer agents.