• Guerrero-Sanchez, Carlos
• Challagulla, Arjun
• Tizard, Mark
• Monaghan, Paul
• Le, Tam
• Shi, Shuning
• Hinton, Tracey
• Thang, San
• Gunatillake, Thilak
• Stewart, Cameron

Abstract

The advent of controlled radical polymerization techniques such as Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) polymerization has allowed the design and synthesis of polymeric architectures with quantitative control of block length, microstructure and placement of active and targeting moieties at chain ends or as pendant groups. These structural features are important parameters in advanced delivery systems for protein and gene based therapeutics such as short interfering RNA (siRNA). We have designed and synthesized a range of linear, star and hyperbranched cationic block copolymers based on a combination of N,N-dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), oligoethyleneglycol methacrylate (OEGMA) and butyl methacrylate (BMA) to form cationic, hydrophilic and hydrophobicblocks, respectively. The polymers were characterized by in-vitro test protocols for cell viability, siRNA uptake, serum stability and gene silencing. The presentation will highlight the advantages of RAFT polymerization in the synthesis of polymers with different architectures, and their influence on gene silencing efficiency, and the application of the polymers as siRNA carriers to inhibit the influenza virus replication in-vivo.

Topics

• microstructure
• copolymer
• block copolymer