Advanced Polymeric Architectures for Biomedical Applications

This presentation will discuss the design and synthesis of gel-core star polymers as drug delivery vehicles and antimicrobial agents. Well-defined, multi-armed star polymers have been prepared by an “arm first” synthetic approach. Strategies to introduce core and/or peripheral functionality into the gel-core star polymers have been taken to tailor the properties of the carriers. A combination of molecular simulations and experimental results provides insight into the mechanism of star polymer formation and cargo encapsulation.