Glycans coated nanoparticles as a biocompatible shield to increase nanoparticles colloidal stability and modulate their immunological response.

ended

Nanomedicine is currently the most studied and promising topics in the field of biomedical technology, which is focused on developing nanoparticles. The reason for this is that these materials present unique properties such as size, high ratio area/ volume, chemical reactivity, that offer potential solutions for many of the current challenges in diagnosis, therapy and vaccines on several diseases. However, the safe use of NPs in clinical applications is not established yet. At present, the NPs have limited stability in complex cell media, enhanced recognition by the immunological system and reduced targeting efficacy as a result of the protein corona formation. Studies in Dr. Monopoli´s laboratory at RSCI have demonstrated that glycosylation of the protein corona plays an important role in maintaining the colloidal stability of nanoparticles and influences nanoparticle-cell interactions. The proposed research programme will utilize the combination of interdisciplinary and intersectoral approaches (synthetic chemistry, physical chemistry, glycoprofiling and proteomics, an inter-sectoral secondment (CIC biomaGUNE, Prof Sergio Moya to learn fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and test the NP targeting efficacy) to synthetise a range of nanoparticles (NPs) decorated with synthetic and naturally occurring glycans (hence, Glyco-NPs) in order to: 1), increase the NPs' colloidal stability, 2) attenuate the unspecific protein interaction and 3) increase the NPs circulation half-life into the bloodstream. Together with my supervisor, we have designed a training plan that includes new research (glycoprofiling and bio-nanointeractions), and transferable (project management, leadership, innovation) skills.