Nanomaterials: Therapeutic Applications

In recent years, uses of engineered nanomaterials have increased in day-to-day life, especially in biomedical applications. In this direction, advances in polymer science have significantly contributed to the development of polymeric nanomaterials for drug delivery applications. Particularly, intensive efforts have been made to develop new types of nanomaterials through self-assembly techniques. Polymers that can spontaneously self-assemble in aqueous solution into various nanoscale structures such as micelles, nanoparticles, and vesicles have huge potential to serve as nanocarriers for various therapeutic applications. By controlling the number of physicochemical parameters that can influence the self-assembly process, it is possible to tailor the desired morphology of the nanostructures and to engineer different properties of the nanostructures. This entry reviews the fundamental and physicochemical properties of self-assembled morphologies like micelles, nanoparticles, vesicles (polymersomes), and layer-by-layer capsules that are driven by template-directed assembly. We cover formulation characteristics such as loading efficiency, stability, and release properties of polymeric nanocarrier systems with recent examples. We emphasize the biological properties of the polymeric nanomaterials and their therapeutic applications from the delivery of small drug molecules to proteins and gene delivery.