Biomedical applications of photothermal semiconducting polymer nanoparticles

• Main Author: Lyu, Yan
• Other Authors: Pu Kanyi
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90330; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48522
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (SPNs), as a new optical nanomaterial with completely organic components, show good biocompatibility and have been widely used in disease diagnosis and therapy. Specifically, beneficial from the superb photothermal conversion capability, SPNs have been applied in photoacoustic (PA) imaging, the brightness of which is closely related to the capability of photothermal conversion, and photothermal therapy (PTT). However, their translational potential to clinics is still challenging, which requires the further optimization of the SPN properties. In my Ph.D. work, I developed the rational molecular and nanoparticle designing strategies to improve the features of SPNs including brightness, specificity and biodegradability beneficial to the traditional photothermal applications. In addition, I have broadened the applications beyond imaging and therapy to control cellular events.