The course will analyze the synthesis of polymeric nanoparticles for biomedical applications and the synthesis of therapeutic proteins

Lectures and exercise sessions will allow students to:

- know and discuss about the manufacturing of therapeutic proteins

- know and discuss about the production of polymers and polymer nanoparticles for biomedical applications

The laboratory will allow students to:

- synthesize in a chemical laboratory polymer devices for biomedical porpouses.

Lectures

This course describes the physicochemical aspects of two processes: the manufacturing of therapeutic proteins and the production of polymers and polymer nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Therapeutic proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies, are currently manufactured through recombinant technology. They are typically expressed in mammalian cell cultures and then purified through various steps, referred to as capture and polishing, usually based on chromatographic techniques. The relevant engineering aspects of this process are reviewed with a focus on productivity, yield and purity of the final product, but also on the quality of the final drug in terms of aggregates, fragments and distribution of variants in terms of differences in charge and in glycosylation pattern. These strongly affect the toxicity and efficacy of the final drug.

About polymerization processes, we start from general considerations on different polymerization chemistries and the selection of the most suitable polymerization processes. We then proceed with the following aspect of these processes: detailed kinetics of free radical polymerization; molecular weight distribution and chain composition control in copolymers; emulsion polymerization processes; synthetic methods for polymeric nanoparticles production; living polymerization processes: ROP, RAFT and ATRP.

The application examples are selected in the area of controlled drug delivery, tissue engineering and polymer degradation.

Laboratory

• Synthesis of NPs for biomedical Applications
• Fluo-Nanoparticles for Imaging
• Magnetic Nanoparticles
• Living Polymerizations: ROP and RAFT
• RAFT Emulsion Polymerization
• Synthesis of NPs via Solvent Polymerization and subsequent Nanoprecipitation
• Hydrophilic Polymer and NP synthesis

Students are required to know the basic principles of physical chemistry.

Exams consist in an oral evaluation of the laboratory reports and an assessment of the knowledge of the contents of the frontal lessons.