New Trends in Macromolecular and Supramolecular Chemistry for Biological Applications

This contributed volume applies the insights of supramolecular chemistry to biomedical applications such as ions/water transport through nano-scale channels, gene therapy, tissue engineering and drug delivery, to cite some of the major investigations.

The challenge is to understand the mechanisms of transport through tissues particularly in the therapeutic treatment of a disease where the active drug must be delivered directly to diseased cells without affecting healthy cells. As a result, smaller quantities of active substances can be used to treat the disease. Another interest concerns new ways to administer gene therapy. If genes are often delivered to their target cells by adapted viruses, the supramolecular non-viral ‘vectors’ using dynamic nano-frameworks and nano-structures are presented. In addition, it is important to reconstruct damaged tissues by mimicking natural processes in cells and polymers, such as tissue engineering and self-healing. Different options are here discussed: e.g. hydrogels based on chitosan, a carbohydrate polymer, are proving especially promising for tissue engineering and drug delivery. For controlled delivery of drugs or other biologically active compounds, hydrogels sensitive to the most important stimuli in the human body, such as temperature, pH, ionic strength, glucose and biomolecules released by the organism in pathological conditions have been developed. Finally, to assist and validate the experimental studies, computer modelling and simulations of large-sized molecular structures and systems using different molecular dynamics and quantum mechanical techniques are developed based on the experimental and chemistry synthesis.

This book is of great interest for graduate students, researchers and health professionals interested in acquiring a better understanding of the mechanisms of medical treatments. In addition, it provides numerous tools to develop better therapies for human diseases.

o Chapter 2. DNA transfection & Gene therapy

o Chapter 3. Drug delivery : rotaxanes & polyrotaxanes, Smart polymeric materials

o Chapter 4. New core-shell for active drug delivery : Magnetic nano-particles, CNTs, MOFs

o Chapter 7. Modelisation and computitional chemistry

-7) Claudiu T. Supuran*, University of Florence, Italy - A Story on Carbon Dioxide and its Hydration

-8) Aatto Laaksonen, Stockholm University, Sweden - Inverse Design and Hierarchical Multiscale Modelling of Biological Matter

-9) Kurt Vesterager Gothelf, iNANO, Aarhus University, Denmark - DNA-Directed Self-assembly of Macromolecular Structures 

-10) Luisa De Cola, Institute de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (I.S.I.S.), University of Strasbourg, France and KIT, Germany - Luminescent Complexes and their Assemblies : from Understanding to Artificial Virus 

-11) Ulrich S. Schubert, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany - Tailor-Made Polymers and Nanoparticles for Applications in Nanomedicine

-12) Sinda Lepetre-Mouelhi, Institut Galien, University Paris-Saclay, France - Squalene-based Nanomedicines : An Original and Efficient Approach for the Treatment of Neurological Disorders without Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier

-13) Sylvia Wagner, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT

Sulzbach, Germany - Biodegradable Nanoparticles for Specific Drug Transport

-14) Stephane P Vincent, University of Namur, Belgium – Multivalent rotaxanes designed as antibiofilm agents

SupraChem Lab, Iasi, RO

-15) Mihaela Silion, Adina Coroaba, Radu Zonda, Sorin Ibanescu, Mariana Pinteala, Marc Abadie - Measuring Ionic Transport through Lipid Bilayers 

-16) Lilia Clima, Mariana Pinteala & Co - Polymeric Carriers for Transporting Nucleic Acids - Contributions to the Field

-17) Gheorghe Fundueanu, Sanda Bucatariu, Marieta Constantin - Smart Polymeric Materials for Drug Delivery 

-18) Alexandru Rotaru, Laura Rusu, Mariana Pinteala & CO - Supramolecular Guanosine-quadruplex Hydrogels and Hydrogel Composites for Cell Growth Applications

-19) Marin Luminita & CO - Hydrogelation of Chitosan with Monoaldehydes towards Biomaterials with Tuned Properties 

-20) Adrian Fifere, Mariana Pinteala & CO - Inorganic Nanoarticles as Free Radical Scavengers

-21) Rosca Irina - A Microbiological Epilogue - Nosocomial Infections 

-23) Dragos Peptanariu, Lilia Clima - Validation of the Non Toxicity of Non Viral Genetic

-24) Adina Coroaba, Mariana Pinteala, Marc Abadie - Kinetics Transport of Ions/Water Through Nano-Scale Channels : Review And Update

Professor Emeritus, University of Montpellier, Institute Charles Gerhardt Montpellier - Aggregates, Interfaces & Materials for Energy (ICGM/AIME, UMR CNRS 5253). He was Full Professor @ the University of Montpellier and Head of Laboratory of Polymer Science and Advanced Organic Materials - LEMP/MAO.  Dr es Sciences from Institute Charles Sadron (former Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolécules), University Louis Pasteur Strasbourg. His present activities concern High performance composites and nanocomposites, UV & EB coatings, Biomaterials, Green Chemistry and Aircrafts manufacturing. He has published 14 books and 12 patents. He has advised nearly 95 M.S. and 52 Ph.D. students with whom he has published over 430 per reviewed papers. More than 45 years experience in Polymer Science with 10 years in the industry (IBM USA, MOD UK, SNPA/Total France). Currently ERA CHAIR holder Horizon 2020.  

Centre of Advanced Research in Bionanoconjugates and Biopolymers department, “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry. Interests: development of new polymer-based materials: supramolecular (co)polymers; polymer-functionalized nanoparticles; interpolymer complexes between hydrophobic-hydrophylic copolymers; blend and networks containing silicon-based polymers; aggregation of block copolymers in solution by fluorescence; synthesis and characterization of polymers and copolymers (especially siloxane containing block copolymers); cationic, anionic and radical copolymerization; structure-property relationship evaluation, data analysis, and interpretation; biopolymer-based nanocomposites for biomedical applications; dynamic polymeric matrixes for tissue engineering; antifungal nanotherapeutics; focal gene and drug delivery systems; ESR spectroscopy.