Bio-Membrane Translocating Polymers
Polymers with balanced hydrophilicity can passively translocate through biological membranes without damaging them. The translocation process is not fully understood so far. We have synthesized such balanced amphiphilic polymers which contain alternating low MW hydrophobic and hydrophilic units. The polymers have a composition and concentration dependent LCST that allows tuning for the biological applications. The translocation properties of the polymers as well as the interactions with lipid membranes are studied using Pulsed Field Gradient (PFG) NMR, neutron reflectometry (NR) and Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS). Because of the non-ionic nature of the polymers only small interactions with the other biological compounds are expected and the materials might be interesting candidates e.g. for drug delivery.
Contact:
Phone: +49 2461 61-2541
Email: j.allgaier@fz-juelich.de
