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Enhancing doxorubicin anticancer activity with a novel polymeric platform photoreleasing nitric oxide (2019)
Journal Article
Sodano, F., Cavanagh, R., Pearce, A. K., Lazzarato, L., Rolando, B., Fraix, A., …Sortino, S. (2020). Enhancing doxorubicin anticancer activity with a novel polymeric platform photoreleasing nitric oxide. Biomaterials Science, 8(5), 1329-1344. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9bm01644a

© 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Combinations of conventional chemotherapeutics with unconventional anticancer agents such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species may offer treatment benefits for cancer therapies. Here we report a novel polymer... Read More about Enhancing doxorubicin anticancer activity with a novel polymeric platform photoreleasing nitric oxide.

Development of bioactive electrospun scaffolds suitable to support skin fibroblasts and release Lucilia sericata maggot excretion/secretion (2019)
Working Paper
Giacaman, A. G., Styliari, I. D., Taresco, V., Pritchard, D., Alexander, C., & Rose, F. R. Development of bioactive electrospun scaffolds suitable to support skin fibroblasts and release Lucilia sericata maggot excretion/secretion

Larval therapy has been reported to exert beneficial actions upon chronic wound healing by promoting granulation tissue formation, antimicrobial activity and degrading necrotic tissue. However, the use of live maggots is problematic for patient accep... Read More about Development of bioactive electrospun scaffolds suitable to support skin fibroblasts and release Lucilia sericata maggot excretion/secretion.

LC-MS metabolomics comparisons of cancer cell and macrophage responses to methotrexate and polymer-encapsulated methotrexate (2019)
Journal Article
Al-Natour, M. A., Alazzo, A., Ghaemmaghami, A. M., Kim, D., & Alexander, C. (2019). LC-MS metabolomics comparisons of cancer cell and macrophage responses to methotrexate and polymer-encapsulated methotrexate. International Journal of Pharmaceutics: X, 1, Article 100036. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpx.2019.100036

Methotrexate (MTX) is a folate analogue antimetabolite widely used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. A number of studies have shown that MTX delivered via nanoparticle carriers is more potent against cancer cells than free MTX, a... Read More about LC-MS metabolomics comparisons of cancer cell and macrophage responses to methotrexate and polymer-encapsulated methotrexate.

Role of Self‐Assembly Conditions and Amphiphilic Balance on Nanoparticle Formation of PEG‐PDLLA Copolymers in Aqueous Environments (2019)
Journal Article
Phan, H., Minut, R. I., McCrorie, P., Vasey, C., Larder, R. R., Krumins, E., …Pearce, A. K. (2019). Role of Self‐Assembly Conditions and Amphiphilic Balance on Nanoparticle Formation of PEG‐PDLLA Copolymers in Aqueous Environments. Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 57(17), 1801-1810. https://doi.org/10.1002/pola.29451

The production of well-defined and reproducible poly-meric nanoparticles (NPs), in terms of size and stability in biological environments, is undoubtedly a fundamental challenge in the formulation of novel and more effective nanomedicines. The adopti... Read More about Role of Self‐Assembly Conditions and Amphiphilic Balance on Nanoparticle Formation of PEG‐PDLLA Copolymers in Aqueous Environments.

Dual Bioresponsive Antibiotic and Quorum Sensing Inhibitor Combination Nanoparticles for Treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms In Vitro and Ex Vivo (2019)
Journal Article
Singh, N., Romero, M., Travanut, A., Monteiro, P., Jordana-Lluch, E., Hardie, K. R., …Alexander, C. (2019). Dual Bioresponsive Antibiotic and Quorum Sensing Inhibitor Combination Nanoparticles for Treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms In Vitro and Ex Vivo. Biomaterials Science, 10(7), 4099-4111. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9BM00773C

Many debilitating infections result from persistent microbial biofilms that do not respond to conventional antibiotic regimens. A potential method to treat such chronic infections is to combine agents which interfere with bacterial biofilm developmen... Read More about Dual Bioresponsive Antibiotic and Quorum Sensing Inhibitor Combination Nanoparticles for Treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms In Vitro and Ex Vivo.

Epoxy–amine oligomers from terpenes with applications in synergistic antifungal treatments (2019)
Journal Article
O’Brien, D. M., Vallieres, C., Alexander, C., Howdle, S. M., Stockman, R. A., & Avery, S. V. (2019). Epoxy–amine oligomers from terpenes with applications in synergistic antifungal treatments. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 7(34), 5222-5229. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9tb00878k

A bis-epoxide monomer was synthesised in two steps from (R)-carvone, a terpenoid renewable feedstock derived from spearmint oil, and used to prepare ?-aminoalcohol oligomers in polyaddition reactions with bis-amines without requiring solvent or catal... Read More about Epoxy–amine oligomers from terpenes with applications in synergistic antifungal treatments.

Amphiphilic tri- and tetra-block co-polymers combining versatile functionality with facile assembly into cytocompatible nanoparticles (2019)
Journal Article
Vasey, C. E., Pearce, A. K., Sodano, F., Cavanagh, R., Abelha, T., Cuzzucoli Crucitti, V., …Alexander, C. (2019). Amphiphilic tri- and tetra-block co-polymers combining versatile functionality with facile assembly into cytocompatible nanoparticles. Biomaterials Science, 7(9), 3832-3845. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9bm00667b

In order for synthetic polymers to find widespread practical application as biomaterials, their syntheses must be easy to perform, utilising freely available building blocks, and should generate products which have no adverse effects on cells or tiss... Read More about Amphiphilic tri- and tetra-block co-polymers combining versatile functionality with facile assembly into cytocompatible nanoparticles.

Polymer microparticles with defined surface chemistry and topography mediate the formation of stem cell aggregates and cardiomyocyte function (2019)
Journal Article
Alvarez-Paino, M., Amer, M. H., Nasir, A., Cuzzucoli Crucitti, V., Thorpe, J., Burroughs, L., …Rose, F. (2019). Polymer microparticles with defined surface chemistry and topography mediate the formation of stem cell aggregates and cardiomyocyte function. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 11(38), 34560-34574. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b04769

Surface-functionalized microparticles are relevant to fields spanning engineering and biomedicine, with uses ranging from cell culture to advanced cell delivery. Varying topographies of biomaterial surfaces are also being investigated as mediators of... Read More about Polymer microparticles with defined surface chemistry and topography mediate the formation of stem cell aggregates and cardiomyocyte function.

Polyvalent diazonium polymers provide efficient protection of oncolytic adenovirus Enadenotucirev from neutralizing antibodies while maintaining biological activity in vitro and in vivo (2019)
Journal Article
Francini, N., Cochrane, D., Illingworth, S., Purdie, L., Mantovani, G., Fisher, K., …Alexander, C. (2019). Polyvalent diazonium polymers provide efficient protection of oncolytic adenovirus Enadenotucirev from neutralizing antibodies while maintaining biological activity in vitro and in vivo. Bioconjugate Chemistry, 30(4), 1244-1257. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.9b00189

Oncolytic viruses offer many advantages for cancer therapy when administered directly to confined solid tumors. However, the systemic delivery of these viruses is problematic because of the host immune response, undesired interactions with blood comp... Read More about Polyvalent diazonium polymers provide efficient protection of oncolytic adenovirus Enadenotucirev from neutralizing antibodies while maintaining biological activity in vitro and in vivo.

Lactoferrin-Loaded Alginate Microparticles to Target Clostridioides difficile Infection (2019)
Journal Article
Braim, S., Śpiewakb, K., Brindell, M., Heeg, D., Alexander, C., & Monaghan, T. (2019). Lactoferrin-Loaded Alginate Microparticles to Target Clostridioides difficile Infection. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 108(7), 2438-2446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xphs.2019.02.025

Some forms of bovine lactoferrin (bLf) are effective in delaying Clostridioides difficile growth and preventing toxin production. However, therapeutic use of bLf may be limited by protein stability issues. The objective of this study was to prepare a... Read More about Lactoferrin-Loaded Alginate Microparticles to Target Clostridioides difficile Infection.

Investigating the intracellular effects of hyperbranched polycation-DNA complexes on lung cancer cells using LC-MS-based metabolite profiling (2019)
Journal Article
Alazzo, A., Al-Natour, M., Spriggs, K., Stolnik, S., Ghaemmaghami, A., Kim, D., & Alexander, C. (2019). Investigating the intracellular effects of hyperbranched polycation-DNA complexes on lung cancer cells using LC-MS-based metabolite profiling. Molecular Omics, 15(1), 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8MO00139A

Cationic polymers have emerged as a promising alternative to viral vectors in gene therapy. They are cheap to scale up, easy to functionalise and also presume to be safer than the viral vectors, however many of them are cytotoxic. The large number of... Read More about Investigating the intracellular effects of hyperbranched polycation-DNA complexes on lung cancer cells using LC-MS-based metabolite profiling.

A thermoresponsive three-dimensional fibrous cell culture platform for enzyme-free expansion of mammalian cells (2019)
Journal Article
Aladdad, A. M., Amer, M. H., Sidney, L., Hopkinson, A., White, L. J., Alexander, C., & Rose, F. R. (2019). A thermoresponsive three-dimensional fibrous cell culture platform for enzyme-free expansion of mammalian cells. Acta Biomaterialia, 95, 427-438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.037

A three-dimensional thermoresponsive fibrous scaffold system for the subsequent extended culture and enzyme-free passaging of a range of mammalian cell types is presented. Poly(PEGMA188) was incorporated with poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) via bl... Read More about A thermoresponsive three-dimensional fibrous cell culture platform for enzyme-free expansion of mammalian cells.

Mammalian cell-driven polymerisation of pyrrole (2018)
Journal Article
Sherman, H. G., Jain, A., Stolnik, S., Alexander, C., Rawson, F. J., & Hicks, J. (2018). Mammalian cell-driven polymerisation of pyrrole. ChemBioChem, 20(8), 1008-1013. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201800630

A model cancer cell line was used to initiate polymerisation of pyrrole to form the conducting material polypyrrole. The polymerisation was shown to occur via cytosolic exudates rather than via membrane redox sites which normally control the oxidatio... Read More about Mammalian cell-driven polymerisation of pyrrole.

Synthesis of methacrylate-terminated block copolymers with reduced transesterification by controlled ring-opening polymerization (2018)
Journal Article
Ruiz-Cantu, L. A., Pearce, A. K., Burroughs, L., Bennett, T. M., Vasey, C. E., Wildman, R., …Taresco, V. (2019). Synthesis of methacrylate-terminated block copolymers with reduced transesterification by controlled ring-opening polymerization. Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 220(2), Article 1800459. https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.201800459

This work presents a robust method to achieve the synthesis of low molecular weight polyesters 26 via ring-opening polymerization (ROP) initiated by 2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate (HEMA) 27 when using triazabicyclodecene (TBD) as catalyst. The effect th... Read More about Synthesis of methacrylate-terminated block copolymers with reduced transesterification by controlled ring-opening polymerization.

Structure-optimized interpolymer polyphosphazene complexes for effective gene delivery against glioblastoma (2018)
Journal Article
Hsu, W., Sánchez-Gómez, P., Gomez-Ibarlucea, E., Ivanov, D. P., Rahman, R., Grabowska, A. M., …Garcia-Fuentes, M. (2019). Structure-optimized interpolymer polyphosphazene complexes for effective gene delivery against glioblastoma. Advanced Therapeutics, 2(3), Article 1800126. https://doi.org/10.1002/adtp.201800126

Safe and efficient gene delivery vectors will enhance the prospects for polynucleotide-based therapies. Herein a new approach toward structurally optimized gene vector design based on the preparation of clickable poly(allylamino-phosphazene)s that ca... Read More about Structure-optimized interpolymer polyphosphazene complexes for effective gene delivery against glioblastoma.

Rapid formulation of redox-responsive oligo-?-aminoester polyplexes with siRNA via jet printing (2018)
Journal Article
Lovato, T., Taresco, V., Alazzo, A., Sansone, C., Stolnik, S., Alexander, C., & Conte, C. (2018). Rapid formulation of redox-responsive oligo-?-aminoester polyplexes with siRNA via jet printing. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 6(41), 6550-6558. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TB01215F

Here we describe a rapid inkjet formulation method for screening newly-synthesised cationic materials for siRNA delivery into cancer cells. Reduction responsive oligo-?-aminoesters were prepared and evaluated for their ability to condense siRNA into... Read More about Rapid formulation of redox-responsive oligo-?-aminoester polyplexes with siRNA via jet printing.

Photocrosslinkable gelatin hydrogels modulate the production of the major pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-α, by human mononuclear cells (2018)
Journal Article
Donaldson, A. R., Edi Tanase, C., Awuah, D., Vasanthi Bathri Narayanan, P., Hall, L., Nikkhah, M., …Ghaemmaghami, A. M. (2018). Photocrosslinkable gelatin hydrogels modulate the production of the major pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-α, by human mononuclear cells. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 6, Article 116. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2018.00116

Hydrogels are an attractive class of biomaterials in tissue engineering due to their inherently compatible properties for cell culture. Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) has shown significant promise in the fields of tissue engineering and drug delivery,... Read More about Photocrosslinkable gelatin hydrogels modulate the production of the major pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-α, by human mononuclear cells.

In Silico Screening for Solid Dispersions: The Trouble with Solubility Parameters and χFH (2018)
Journal Article
Turpin, E. R., Taresco, V., Al-Hachami, W. A., Booth, J., Treacher, K., Tomasi, S., …Garnett, M. C. (2018). In Silico Screening for Solid Dispersions: The Trouble with Solubility Parameters and χFH. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 15(10), 4654-4667. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.8b00637

© Copyright 2018 American Chemical Society. The problem of predicting small molecule-polymer compatibility is relevant to many areas of chemistry and pharmaceutical science but particularly drug delivery. Computational methods based on Hildebrand and... Read More about In Silico Screening for Solid Dispersions: The Trouble with Solubility Parameters and χFH.

Structural variations in hyperbranched polymers prepared via thermal polycondensation of lysine and histidine and their effects on DNA delivery (2018)
Journal Article
Alazzo, A., Lovato, T., Collins, H. M., Taresco, V., Stolnik, S., Soliman, M. E., …Alexander, C. (2018). Structural variations in hyperbranched polymers prepared via thermal polycondensation of lysine and histidine and their effects on DNA delivery. Journal of Interdisciplinary Nanomedicine, 3(2), https://doi.org/10.1002/jin2.36

The successful clinical translation of non-viral gene delivery systems has yet to be achieved due to the biological and technical obstacles to preparing a safe, potent and cost-effective vector. Hyper-branched polymers have emerged as promising candi... Read More about Structural variations in hyperbranched polymers prepared via thermal polycondensation of lysine and histidine and their effects on DNA delivery.

Time and cell-dependent effects of endocytosis inhibitors on the internalization of biomolecule markers and nanomaterials (2018)
Journal Article
Sasso, L., Purdie, L., Grabowska, A. M., Jones, A. T., & Alexander, C. (2018). Time and cell-dependent effects of endocytosis inhibitors on the internalization of biomolecule markers and nanomaterials. Journal of Interdisciplinary Nanomedicine, 3(2), https://doi.org/10.1002/jin2.39

Endocytosis is an essential function of cells, with key roles in the internalisation of nutrients, signal molecules and also drugs. Endocytic processes are therefore widely investigated in the context of drug delivery, and inhibitors of endocytic pat... Read More about Time and cell-dependent effects of endocytosis inhibitors on the internalization of biomolecule markers and nanomaterials.