# Investigations of drug encapsulation in polymer nanoparticles: Training undergraduate students in multidisciplinary research

> **NIH NIH R15** · GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $446,239

## Abstract

Abstract
For several decades nanoparticle formulations of molecules used for diagnostics and/or therapy have been
intensively developed to improve and control their bioavailability and pharmacokinetics. This is particularly
important for the large number of new drugs developed that have poor solubility in water. A common form of
such formulations consists of small molecules of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) encapsulated in a
polymer nanoparticle carrier. Despite the advantages of this type of nanoparticle formulation for many
materials, there is a lack of predictive quantitative models for determining the optimum method, processing
conditions and excipients needed to effectively encapsulate a given API. Instead, much of the development
and optimization are based on qualitative and/or trial-and-error methods.
This proposal aims to address this by a systematic study of the encapsulation efficiency of small molecules into
polymer nanoparticles using the method of flash nanoprecipitation. This simple method, in which a solution is
rapidly mixed with a second, miscible solvent in which the API has poor solubility, yields nanoparticle
dispersions with sizes in the range of 10’s to 100’s of nanometers. It has several advantages, including ease of
scaleup, the possibility of incorporating multiple components into single particles, and the ability to use the
processing conditions to kinetically trap molecules that might otherwise not be encapsulated.
We propose to develop a general model for predicting the encapsulation efficiency of a given molecule into a
polymer nanoparticle based on the molecular properties of the API, polymer, and solvents and as a function of
the processing conditions such as concentration, mixing rates and temperature. Our model will be based on
both thermodynamics (partitioning of the molecules into the polymer phase due to non-specific van der Waals
interactions) and kinetics (trapping of molecules in the polymer due to the glass transition), as well as the
interplay between the two. The model will be tested using a range of molecules, polymers, and solvents by
measuring encapsulation efficiencies and effects of the small molecule on the particle size and morphology. A
second aim will be to apply this model to the development of various potentially useful systems. Finally, we will
use this project as an opportunity train undergraduate students in highly multidisciplinary research, exposing
students with backgrounds in physics to applications in biomedicine and giving biology or biochemistry
students experience in fundamental materials characterization.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10974800
- **Project number:** 1R15GM155853-01
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Edward Van Keuren
- **Activity code:** R15 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $446,239
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-15 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10974800

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10974800, Investigations of drug encapsulation in polymer nanoparticles: Training undergraduate students in multidisciplinary research (1R15GM155853-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10974800. Licensed CC0.

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