Design and Development of Amphiphilic Architectures for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

In response to the increasing need for easy-to-prepare and versatile nano-transport systems for biomedical applications, the importance of polymers and dendrimers has been well recognized. Polymers are most widely used as pharmaceutical carriers in drug delivery, and a considerable amount of research has been directed toward the use of natural and synthetic polymers as polymeric drugs and drug delivery systems. On the other hand dendrimers represent a key stage in the ongoing evolution of macromolecular chemistry and research in this field has experienced an exponential development in both academic and technological areas.

We have developed a chemo-enzymatic methodology for the synthesis of functionalized amphiphilic polymers and dendritic architectures based on glycerol, polyglycerol, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and alkyl/perfluoro-alkyl moieties that aggregate in aqueous medium to form nanospheres. We used poly(ethylene glycol)s, (PEGs) as they are known to be biocompatible, nontoxic, and water-soluble. Glycerol and polyglycerol on the other hand are the most versatile and valuable chemical substances and are utilized in a variety of commercial products with no known adverse pharmacological or environmental effects. Moreover, they exhibit good chemical stability and inertness under biological conditions. The molecular encapsulation of small hydrophobic drugs using these polymeric / dendritic architectures has been studied. An overview of this research area will be given during the talk. 

Biography

Dr. Sunil K. Sharma joined the Department of Chemistry in March 2004 as Reader/Associate Professor and appointed full Professor in March 2010. He obtained BSc (Hons), MSc, and PhD degrees from the University of Delhi. His doctoral work was in the areas of synthetic and natural product chemistry. He has Postdoctoral / Visiting Scientist research experience of more than ten years at eminent institutes in Germany, USA, Denmark, UK, and Spain. He is a recipient of awards from DBT (India), RSC (UK), and fellowships UGC (India), Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Spain), DANIDA (Denmark), and NIH (USA). Prof. Sharma’s current research interests focus on Organic synthesis, Bio-catalysis, Responsive polymer-based functional materials and Nanotechnology. Prof. Sharma has published over 138 peer reviewed journal papers with average impact 3.2, total citation of 2800 and an H-index of 28. He has presented more than 100 research papers at Conferences/Symposia in Denmark, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, UK & USA. Fifteen PhD and two MPhil degrees have been awarded to students under his supervision. He has been granted research projects funded by CSIR, DBT, SERB-DST, DRDO, Government of India, Indo-German Science & Technology Center (IGSTC), Polytechnic University, New York (USA), and University of Delhi. Professor Sharma is having active research collaborations with various National and International (Germany, Italy, USA) groups. He has been the part of key office bearers of many National and International Conferences organized by the Department.