Anti-Microbial Drug Delivery Via PLGA Nanoparticles

For two years I worked on a biofilm drug delivery project, under Dr. Amber Doiron at Binghamton University. With an interdisciplinary team, I synthesized nanoparticles out of poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) to test for the viability of delivering anti-biofilm enzymes, antibacterial medication and how these methods affected biofilm colonies, which are large bacterial colonies that surround themselves with a protective membrane. These nanoparticles are characterized using dynamic light scattering and measured for encapsulation efficiency (of how well the particles took in the items we wanted to deliver; the drug and enzyme) through fluorescent microplate reading techniques. The anti-biofilm effects are then measured through fluorescent microscopy. Lastly, I cultured human endothelial cells (HUVEC) to perform cytotoxic tests for human compatibility. The results for this research have so far lead to an optimized method of effectively synthesizing PLGA nanoparticles that can successfully encapsulate enzymes into the drug delivery system.