A study of macrophage interactions with polymeric drug carriers

The focus of this study is on the understanding of the cellular interactions with polymeric drug carrier for intraarticular injection of therapeutic. The degradability of the Eupraxia’s polymeric drug carrier will be studied in contact with macrophages and/or enzymes. At each time point in the cell study the polymer surface will be characterized by SEM, and the enzymes and ROS production will be measured to compare to the control groups. The enzymatic degradation of the polymeric drug carriers will be analyzed by measuring the mass loss, Tg, surface chemistry and morphology analysis at each time point. The structure and molecular weight of the degradation products will be characterized by using NMR and MS techniques. The potential degradation mechanism will be proposed for the polymers.

Faculty Supervisor:

Brian Amsden

Student:

Shadi Taghavi

Partner:

Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Queen's University