Professor Nicholas A. Peppas has received a new research grant from the Biomedical Engineering Program of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems.
Professor Nicholas A. Peppas has received a new research grant from the Biomedical Engineering Program of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems. The $375,000 grant will fund the development of nanoscale hydrogels for oral delivery of siRNA and the investigation of their use in a variety of medical applications.
The goal of this research is to synthesize polycationic nanoscale hydrogels capable of delivering small interfering RNA (siRNA) to disease targets, specifically those along the gastrointestinal tract. The research will cover the characterization and optimization of a number of variables that will ultimately affect the suitability of the hydrogels. Oral delivery of siRNA using pH-responsive nanogel carriers promises to improve the treatment of various gastrointestinal diseases because oral delivery is more efficient and less painful than intravenous and intraperitoneal injections.
Peppas and his Ph.D. student William Liechty, from Marion, Iowa, conceived the work. Liechty, an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and graduate of the University of Iowa, previously researched new technologies in polymer-liquid crystal composites. He attended Cambridge University as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, a scholarship established by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offering students from around the world the opportunity to study at Cambridge University in England. There, he received a Master of Philosophy degree while researching polymer-mediated protein delivery. Liechty and two new graduate students will work under the direction of Professor Peppas on this project.
