Nanotechnology-based Cancer Therapeutics

This proposal is based on the solid areas of expertise of the Langer group at the MIT, which are also the focus of interest of the researches conducted by the Brazilian collaborators, including: a) the investigation of the mechanism of drug release from nanoparticulate drug delivery systems; b) the development and applications of these systems for the controlled delivery of anti-cancer drugs, gene therapy and antiangiogenesis; c) investigation of magnetically responsive controlled release systems and d) targeted drug delivery and approaches to promote drug delivery across biological barriers. The research involved in this proposal is at the interface of biotechnology and materials science. A major focus is the study and development of polymeric and lipidic nanostructures to deliver drugs, particularly genetically engineered proteins, DNA and RNAi, continuously at controlled rates for prolonged periods of time. Work is in progress in the following areas: -Investigating the mechanism of release from polymeric and lipid delivery systems with concomitant microstructural analysis and mathematical modeling. -Studying applications of these systems including the development of effective long-term delivery systems and also target formulation for, anti-cancer drugs, growth factors, gene therapy agents (especially siRNA) and vaccines.