Objective
In the past ten years, research in the area of drug delivery has focused on the development of vehicles that can target specific cells in the body and on the development of vehicles that specifically deliver a drug within these cells. Today, science is going one step further and the creation of vehicles that can target specific organelles within the cell is the new challenge. In this project, I aim at creating a new generation of peptide-polymer conjugates that can specifically target the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) and/or the Golgi Apparatus (GA) of cells. A direct application for such vehicles is the possibility to deliver antigens into dendritic cells directly in the place where they can bind to the MHC Class I complex. Efficient delivery of antigens to the MHC Class I complex triggers the activation of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes and is crucial for the creation of novel and more efficient vaccines and adjuvants. The use of polymers for targeted antigen delivery would have many advantages, not the least being an enhanced plasma half-life of the drug, improved solubility and the possibility of controlled release. The success of this will lead to the creation of a novel generation of polymeric-based immunogenics.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF
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Funding Scheme
MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)Coordinator
1015 Lausanne
Switzerland