Minelise Rivera de Jesus – NIH Trainee 2023-2024
Research progress: I am a PhD student in the Thayumanavan lab studying delivery vehicles for therapeutics biologics. I am studying the development of polymeric delivery system that can covalently bind to therapeutic peptides for encapsulation and efficient release in desired site. During this past year I developed my presentation, communication, writing and research skills. My work aims to provide a universal delivery platform for therapeutic peptides by employing covalent binding. For this I’ve been synthesizing two polymeric structures that contain electrophilic moiety which will then covalently bind with the nucleophilic moiety on the peptide. At the same time, a cleavable linker will be synthesized and used to help conjugate the peptides without the nucleophilic moiety. Afterwards, the nanoparticles will be formulated, characterized and tested in vitro for their cellular activity. I in the last year have made progress on the synthesis aim of my project, resulting in the polymeric structures needed for the project.