Robert K Prudhomme
Princeton University, USA
Title: Encapsulation of nanoparticles in composite gel microparticles for lung imaging and drug delivery
Biography
Biography: Robert K Prudhomme
Abstract
The intravenous delivery of composite gel microparticles (cGMPs) offers a platform for localized treatment of lung cancer. We describe a method for fabrication of cGMPs with average diameters of 35 to 100 µm using shear emulsification and microfluidic droplet generation. We characterized the particles and describe the performance of these particles in vivo. Biodistribution of the cGMPs was selective to the lung after intravenous injection and particle clearance from the lung occurred in 7 weeks. One-week biodistribution studies demonstrated that larger, uniform particles produced by microfluidics provided optimal targeting to lung tissue. We demonstrated that highly loaded cGMPs containing a long wavelength fluorophore allow in vivo analysis of particle biodistribution without the need for ex-vivo organ analysis. The release of camptothecin conjugates from the nanopartricles, and thus, gel microparticles, is tuned from minutes to days by altering the polarity of the nanoparticle core.