Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Chemistry and School of Computing and Engineering. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2004. / "A dissertation in chemistry and software architecture." Advisor: Yan-Ching Jean. Typescript. Vita. Description based on contents viewed Feb. 27, 2006; title from "catalog record" of the print edition. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-218). Online version of the print edition.

Hydrogels are three dimensional networks of hydrophilic homopolymers or copolymers generally covalently or ionically crosslinked. They interact with aqueous media by swelling to some equilibrium value by retaining the aqueous media in their structures. This study concerns the investigation of the swelling and the controlled drug release behaviour of hydrogels synthesized via the photopolymerisation process. The study of hydrogels in this project was oriented towards their biomedical applications as controlled drug delivery devices. It is a known fact that the complete conversion of monomers to polymers may not be achieved in the polymerisation process thus there is always a certain component of unreacted toxic monomers still remained in the polymer matrix. These monomers have the tendency to leach out of the polymer matrices when the polymers are in contact with an aqueous medium thus rendering the hydrogel to be nonbiocompatable. The polymers synthesized in this work were washed thoroughly in milli-Q-water and then evaluated in vitro for any possible toxic effect on human keratinocyte (HaCaT)v cells using a 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diaphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell proliferation assay. The cytotoxicity results indicated that the hydrogels understudy sustained and allowed a positive growth of the HaCat cells in the duration of the cytotoxicity experiment, thus proving to be satisfactorily compatible. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-92).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 245-259). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Chemistry, 2006. / "May, 2006." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 10/11/2006). Advisor, Daniel J. Smith; Committee members, Michael J. Taschner, Wiley J. Youngs, Kim C. Calvo, Darrell H. Reneker; Department Chair, Michael J. Taschner; Dean of the College, Ronald F. Levant; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

For controlled drug delivery applications, an ideal carrier system should release its drug payload only at the site where the therapeutic activity is required. One elegant strategy for site-selective release of drugs is to utilize the acidic sites in the body, for example, tumor sites and intracellular endocytic compartments. The objective of this thesis is to develop a series of new acid-cleavable polymeric nanoparticles for pH-triggered delivery oftherapeutics. Four new acid-cleavable benzaldehyde acetal crosslinkers have been designed and synthesized. They were then used in the generation of acid-labile polymeric nanoparticle drug carrier systems via various synthetic strategies and drug loading approaches for the delivery of therapeutics with different nature: (l) the coreshell poly(butyl acrylate)-g-poly(polyethylene glycol acrylate) nanoparticles, synthesized via the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated dispersion polymerization, were used for the delivery of hydrophobic drugs; (2) the core-crosslinked poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate)-b-poly(butyl acrylate) copolymer micelles, synthesized via the RAFT-mediated chain-extension polymerization, were used for the delivery of an antitumor drug, doxorubicin; (3) the poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) microgel particles, synthesized via the inverse-emulsion polymerization, were used for the delivery of biomacromolecular drugs. The designed physiochemical features such as the size, surface chemistry, cytotoxicity and the pH-triggered drug release properties of the developed carrier systems have been assessed. The synthesized systems offered release of the drug payload at slightly acidic conditions. The structural integrity of the polymeric carriers remained intact in the physiological, neutral pH conditions. The results support the potential value of the developed systems to be used for acidic-site delivery of therapeutics e.g. tumor sites and intracellular compartments. The content of this thesis has been published as three peer-reviewed international journal articles.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 2007. / "December, 2007." Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed 02/25/2008) Advisor, Stephanie T. Lopina; Faculty readers, Bi-min Newby, Helen Qammar; Department Chair, Lu-Kwang Ju; Dean of the College, George K. Haritos; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Barker, Thomas; Committee Member: Murthy, Niren; Committee Member: Roman, Jesse

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northeastern University, 2008. / Title from title page (viewed Aug. 4, 2009). Graduate School, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Dr. Niren Murthy; Committee Member: Dr. Carson Meredith; Committee Member: Dr. Julia Babensee; Committee Member: Dr. Mark Prausnitz; Committee Member: Dr. Ravi Bellamkonda.