Polymeric nanogels for targeted drug delivery

Polymeric nanogels (NGs) have gained increasing interest as smart nanomaterials for drug delivery purposes. However, some aspects on the effective conformational structure and organization of their building blocks, and their behavior at the submicron scale within the biological compartments are not fully detailed yet. This limits the use of NGs in clinical scenarios. We proposed the formulation of hyaluronic acid-polyethylenimine (HA-PEI) NGs for CD44-targeting therapy in ovarian cancer. The aim of the proposal is a deep structural investigation of HA-PEI NGs by SAXS/WAXS techniques as a function of synthesis methods, drug loading, and environmental conditions. The stability/degradation trend and the interaction with lipid model membranes will also be addressed, helping the optimization of the design and engineering of these materials for biomedical applications.