When designing a polymer-based drug delivery system, it is essential that the correct amount of medication is being released to the body’s tissues. This is controlled by the polymer’s morphology, where an ordered, crystalline structure would restrict delivery whilst a disordered, amorphous structure would promote it. During recent work in the Mathiowitz Lab, the mesophase was discovered as an intermediate between the amorphous and crystalline phases. The objective of this study is to characterize and evaluate the different forms of mesophases as precise and efficient drug delivery systems. Various polymers, such as polylactic acid and polycaprolactone, were film-casted using Dichloromethane (DCM) and pressure and heat processed with a hydraulic press. Next, the samples were analyzed using Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Colorful regions on the samples’ PLM reading show birefringence, indicating mesophase formation. XRD further provides evidence of mesophases based on profile peaks, and the photos show signs of different types of mesophases. These findings can serve as a foundation for future research in discovery of other biodegradable polymers that can have mesophases induced into their morphology as possible vehicles for drug delivery systems.
Jelynn Tatad, Baptista, Cameron, Chen, Henry, et al.,
"Characterizing Mesophases in Biodegradable Polymers"
(2022).
Summer Research Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/ysgb-4h27
Each year, Brown University showcases the research of its undergraduates at the Summer Research Symposium. More than half of the student-researchers are UTRA recipients, while others receive funding from a variety of Brown-administered and national programs and fellowships and go …
