Programmable Polyelectrolyte Nanocontainers for Cellular Drug Delivery (SmartDrug)

SmartDrug project utilises the idea of programmable materials to obtain intracellular drug delivery with polyelectrolyte covered nanocontainers. Nanocontainers can be either hollow containers or have a solid, mesoporous core and the containers are covered with a polyelectrolyte shell which is formed by layer-by-layer technique of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Polyelectrolytes are polymers which are charged in aqueous solutions and their properties can be controlled for example with pH. This shell dictates the drug delivery properties of the nanocontainers and depending on the properties of the polyelectrolytes used, nanocontainers can be programmed to react to pH changes taking place when the nanocontainer permeates into the cell: a change from near neutral conditions (outside the cell) to acidic conditions will trigger the nanoncontainer shell to open and the drug is released.

The main challenge of the project is to control the drug release from the nanocontainer inside the cell at the right location and quantity and within the right timescale. This ambitious goal will demand fundamental understanding of the chemical and physiological phenomenon responsible for the nanocontainer functionality and thus, the research is performed as a collaboration between the Physical Chemistry group (led by prof. Kontturi) at Department of Chemistry, Aalto University and Centre of Drug Research (led by prof. Urtti) at University of Helsinki.