Macromolecular Design and Manufacturing of Polymersomes with Entrapped Gold Nanoparticles as a Platform for Theranostics, Nanoreactors and Protocells

• Grant number: 24/23304-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: March 31, 2025
• End date: March 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Carlos Giacomelli
• Grantee: Gabriela Borba Mondo
• Supervisor: Philippe Guegan
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/13395-2 - Surface Engineering of Gold Sols towards the Control over Protein Corona Features, BP.PD

Abstract

Biologically inspired self-assembly processes have garnered growing interest for developing innovative and advanced functional materials across diverse applications. In this context, polymersomes stand out as versatile structures with potential for designing cargo delivery systems, theranostics, nanoreactors for biocatalysis, and protocells, which are constructs that replicate the structure and functions of biological systems. Such wide array of possible applications are mainly linked to the feasibility to tune polymersome properties due to their chemical versatility as well as due to their ability to accommodate a broad range of active agents and biomolecules inside the aqueous lumen. Based on ability of a variety of N-containing polymers to simultaneously reduce and stabilize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as discovered during the current investigations conducted in Brazil, we are proposing the inclusion of inorganic nanoparticles into these supramolecular objects at the mesoscopic scale and the investigation of the resulting structures and properties. The combination of organic and inorganic materials can indeed effectively generate well-defined objects that can be of due relevance in diagnostics, therapies, biomimicry, and for the construction of complex assemblies to mimic the function of cells and cell-like structures. We accordingly aim to produce AuNPs-entrapped polymersomes, where AuNPs will be formed in situ on the polymersome membranes, with polymer chains acting as reducing agents and stabilizers simultaneously. The self-assemblies will be characterized and compared to their equivalent counterparts without AuNPs, and the membrane permeability profile will be probed by pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR). Additionally, considering their potential in nanomedicine and nanobiotechnology, the interactions of the hybrid systems with model proteins will be investigated in order to evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively the formation of protein coronas.