Non-technical: Surfactant molecules assemble into sub-50 nanometer micelle entities and play a pivotal role in a wide range of applications or products from detergents to cosmetics. The micelles are ideal carriers to contain and protect a variety of therapeutic or imaging cargoes in drug delivery applications. Despite certain success, micelle molecules are known for their poor capability to stabilize cargoes, which remains the major challenge in the field. When diluted to a concentration below the Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC), a working concentration for the micelle-payload system to be applied, the micelle entities disassemble into free surfactants and prematurely dump the cargoes, resulting in a low delivery outcome. This project will address the instability issue of current micelles by developing novel biomaterial surfactants with ultra-low-CMC assembling behavior. Fundamental knowledge will be obtained on how material structural factors impact the unusual low CMC property, and the capability of the ultra-low-CMC micelle to stabilize cargos at conditions relevant to future application scenarios. The success of this project will enable future development of more efficient drug delivery formulations based on the novel biomaterial to improve the public's health. The research project will be integrated into educational activities to inspire students, particularly underrepresented ones from K-12 to graduate level to pursue STEM education and potential manufacturing careers in nano- and bio- medical industry. Dr. Cao's laboratory will continue to recruit high school students and LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) undergraduate scholars and to mentor their research. Through Open Lab Days K-12 students will be engaged and recruited to conduct research supported by this project.
This award by the Biomaterils program in the Division of Materials Research to Wayne State University is to develop novel micelle-forming surfactant biomaterials showing an ultra-low Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) below nanomolar (six orders of magnitude lower than CMCs of common surfactants), and protecting various hydrophobic cargos from dumping upon extreme dilution. This is to address the main challenge with conventional micelles that, unless chemically crosslinked, they disassemble into free surfactants in diluted conditions below CMC, and prematurely release the protected payload. The research objectives of this project include i) to investigate key micellar structural factors to achieve ultra-low CMC properties, and ii) to study how this novel platform can address major stability challenges facing micellar drug delivery. The challenges include micelle disassociation upon dilution in blood, opsonization, and phagocytosis, and premature drug release. This project will test the hypotheses that i) the unique chemical moiety gives rise to ultra-low-CMC properties, and ii) properly structured micelle/cargo is the key to overcome aforementioned stability challenges. The novel biomaterials resulted from this award are expected to ultimately increase the stability and the delivery of the protected drugs, compared with conventional micelle materials, for potential improvement to the national health. The knowledge obtained will inspire the future design of surfactants to address a broad range of application challenges.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
