NOVEL CARBON-BASED MULTIFUNCTIONAL NANOCARRIERS

Abstract

The limitations of conventional diagnostics and therapies prompted the development of nanomedicine with the aim of applying medical knowledge and tools of nanoscale materials (1-1000 nm in size) for diagnostics, treatments and prevention of diseases at cellular and molecular levels in a specific manner. Various types of nanomedicine, both organic, such as liposomes, polymer, dendrimers, carbon, and viral nanoparticles, and inorganic, such as metals, and iron oxides have been synthesized and extensively investigated in the past decades. Despite the significant progress in the field, nanomedicine has yet to fulfil its promise to improve the unmet goals of conventional treatments. The challenges regarding nanoparticle design, potential toxicity, reproducible and scalable manufacturing, and sterilization of the materials are yet to be overcome in order for clinical translation and commercialization to occur. These limitations of the current nanoparticle-based technology highlight the need for the development of a novel and better performing nanoparticle platform. In this thesis, plasma polymerized nanoparticles (nanoP3), a recently developed class of multifunctional nanocarriers have been extensively studied. This work highlights the great potential of nanoP3 as a nanoparticle-based delivery platform for potentially broad clinical applications. The unique characteristics of nanoP3 are inherent to the simplicity of its fabrication and functionalization processes. The versatile surface binding properties along with their biocompatibility could facilitate improved clinical translation of nanocarrier-based therapeutics.