Haley and Dr. Reineke are presenting exciting research going on in the group at the 249th ACS National Meeting and Exposition in Denver.

Glucose block copolymers have shown promise as gene delivery vehicles in cell culture. Haley’s talk “Hemocompatibility of colloidally stable glycopolymer-DNA complexes for gene therapy” will focus on measuring the hemocompatibility of these polymers in preparation for studying gene expression in vivo. The glucose block copolymers did not affect blood function, although a PEGylated control polymer didi lyse red blood cells.The glucose polymers were colloidally stable enough in blood to circulate to five major organs, but were unable to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Further work is necessary to understand how the polymer structure affects biodistribution. (abstract)

Dr. Reineke is giving two talks: “Sustainable and degradable thermosets and polyesters from sugar-derived dilactones” (abstract) and “Lanthanide-containing polycations for imaging and monitoring polyplex dynamics” (abstract)