IISER MOHALI

Abstract:
In recent years, significant effort has been devoted to develop nanotechnology for the delivery of small molecular weight drugs, as well as macromolecules such as proteins, peptides, or genes into cells and tissue. Targeted nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery has been used to direct the particles to specific tissues (minimizing toxicity), improve oral bioavailability, sustain drug/gene effect in the target tissue, solubilize drugs for intravascular delivery, and/or improve the stability of therapeutic agents against enzymatic degradation. Despite the fantastic potential for nanoparticle use in medicine, fundamental studies to understand the molecular interactions of nanoparticles with the biological systems remain largely unexplored. In this lecture, I will discuss how engineered nanoparticles could be exploited as tools to probe cellular process, identify targets responsible for tumor growth and therapy resistance and towards potential clinical translation.