INS8-1567
Glycocalyx-mimicking nanoparticles for cell and tissue-selective drug delivery
Topic
S8. Frontiers of Functional Polymers in Biology and Medicine
When and Where
Sep 30, 2026
15:40 - 15:55
Room 108
Session Chairs
Kisuk YANG
Minseok KWAK
Presenter(s)
Sangyong Jon (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST))
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
The glycocalyx is a pericellular carbohydrate coat that is ubiquitously present on cells and crucially contributes to numerous biological processes, such as cell-cell recognition, cell-extracellular matrix interactions, cell adhesion, etc. The heterogenous sugar moieties of a cell’s glycocalyx can be multivalently recognized by another cell’s receptors, lectins, and/or glycocalyx. We speculated that the types, compositions, and spatial arrangement of individual sugar moieties of a glycocalyx may determine its binding affinity and selectivity for target cells. We thus hypothesized that a library of glycocalyx-mimicking nanoparticles (designated GlyNPs) could be used to screen and identify GlyNP hits with desired tissue or cell tropisms. We very recently published papers in which we used GlyNP libraries to identify cancer type-selective nanoparticles for tumor imaging and therapy (Adv. Mater. 2022: 34, 2203993) and a nanomedicine capable of targeting and treating inflamed colon through direct in vivo screening of a mouse colitis model (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023: 62, e202304815). In this talk, I will present a GlyNP library that can be leveraged for direct in vivo screening and identification of organ-selective nanoparticles and furthermore, the use of the organ-selective GlyNPs for treatments of organ-associated diseases.
