v.bulmus@unsw.edu.au

Supervisor: Dr. Volga Bulmus; Co-supervisor: Dr. Josh McCarroll

Background and Aim: One of the most critical problems in cancerous tumor treatment¹ is the lack of selective toxicity against tumor tissues. Small molecules, as many of the drugs that are being used today for chemotherapy, do not discriminate tumor tissue from normal tissue. As anticancer drugs are very toxic, they generally show high toxicity to healthy cells along with the tumor cells due to non-specific body-distribution, which results in serious side effects and limits the efficacy of chemotherapy. One approach to address the body-distribution problem of anticancer agents is to attach and/or encapsulate them with macromolecules, e.g. polymers.^1,2 We aim to develop and evaluate novel polymeric nanoparticles² as antitumor drug delivery systems.

Project: There is an opening for a student to undertake an honours project for in-vitro evaluation of anticancer drug loaded nanoparticles prepared from novel synthetic polymers and/or hybrids of synthetic polymers with biomolecules³ using human tumor cell cultures. The prospective student will be able to learn various techniques including bioconjugation techniques, drug loading and release assays, cell culture, cell toxicity assays, flow cytometry and fluorescent microscopy. This program would allow student to build a practical work experience on anticancer nanomedicines¹ focusing on functional polymeric biomaterials and tumor chemotherapy. The student would also have the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary research collaboration between the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, (BABS) (http://www.babs.unsw.edu.au) and the Children`s Cancer Institute Australia (CCIA) (http://www.ccia.org.au). The project will be supervised by Dr. Volga Bulmus in collaboration with Dr. Josh McCarroll. For further information, please contact Dr. Bulmus via e-mail (vbulmus@unsw.edu.au).

Background and Aim: Short interfering RNAs (siRNAs)⁴ have an enormous potential to treat/prevent a wide range of diseases. One of the major challenges in transforming siRNAs to clinically applicable potent therapeutics is the delivery of siRNAs to the required site of the body at a therapeutic concentration. In vivo instability, rapid clearance from the circulation, non-specific biodistribution profile and poor cellular uptake are basic delivery problems limiting the overall in vivo effectiveness of siRNA-based therapeutic strategies. It is now well accepted that rationally designed conjugates of polymers with bio-therapeutics^1,3,5 can prove superior in in vivo applications over the naked bio-therapeutics since the conjugation of polymer chains(s) can improve in vivo stability, biodistribution profile and specific localization of bio-therapeutics at a target site.

We aim to combine advantages of polymer conjugation with siRNAs to improve the in vivo applicability of the revolutionary siRNA strategy.

While efforts of the student in this program would potentially take gene silencing strategy one step closer to being a real-life treatment, the program would allow the student to build a practical work experience on biomedical nanotechnology^1,5 focusing on functional polymeric biomaterials and biopharmaceuticals. The student would also have the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary research collaboration between the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, (BABS) (http://www.babs.unsw.edu.au),  the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD) (http://www.camd.unsw.edu.au) and the Children`s Cancer Institute Australia (CCIA) (http://www.ccia.org.au).

Supervisor: Dr. Volga Bulmus; Co-supervisor: Dr. Chris Marquis

There is an opening for a student to undertake an honours or PhD project to develop novel polymer nanoparticles for encapsulation of siRNAs and evaluate their serum stability, cell uptake and bioactivity using in vitro cultured cells. The prospective student will be able to learn various techniques including ionic complex formulations of siRNAs using cationic polymers, gel electrophoresis, cell culture, cell toxicity assays, flow cytometry, fluorescent microscopy. The student would also have the opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary research collaboration between BABS and CAMD. The project will be supervised by Dr. Volga Bulmus in collaboration with Dr. Chris Marquis. For further information, please contact Dr. Bulmus via e-mail (vbulmus@unsw.edu.au).

Project 2: Development and In-vitro Evaluation of Targeted siRNA-Polymer Conjugates

Supervisor: Dr. Volga Bulmus; Co-supervisor: Dr. Josh McCarroll

There is an opening for a student to undertake an honours or PhD project for development of covalent conjugates of siRNAs with synthetic polymers with and without cell receptor targeting moieties and evaluation of serum stability, cellular uptake and bioactivity of the conjugates using in vitro cultured tumor cells. The prospective student will be able to learn various techniques including bioconjugation techniques, gel electrophoresis, cell culture, cell toxicity assays, flow cytometry, fluorescent microscopy. The student would also have the opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary research collaboration between BABS, CCIA and CAMD. The project will be supervised by Dr. Volga Bulmus in collaboration with Dr. Josh Mccarroll. For further information, please contact Dr. Bulmus via e-mail (vbulmus@unsw.edu.au).

• R. Duncan, Nature Reviews Cancer 2006, 6, 689

• Y. Chan, V. Bulmus, M.H. Zareie, F. Byrne, L. Barner. M. Kavallaris, Journal of Controlled Release 2006, 115, 197.

• C. Boyer, V. Bulmus, J. Liu, T.P. Davis, M.H. Stenzel, C. Barner-Kowollik, Journal of The American Chemical Society 2007, 129, 7145.

• Y. Dorsett and T. Tuschl, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 2004, 3, 318

• R. Duncan, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 2003, 2, 347