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FUNCTIONAL POLYMER ARCHITECTURES

Dr. Quinn A. Besford

Group leader Functional Polymer Architectures
at the Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V.

Hohe Strasse 6
01069 Dresden

Phone: +49 (0)351 4658-365
Fax: +49 (0)351 4658-281
Email: besford@ipfdd.de

 

 

Mission statement

To understand how colloidal forces at polymer interfaces modulate processes from particle assembly to cell differentiation, with a vision to exploit this goal towards developing new functional materials for sensing and theranostics.

What we do...

The scope of our work is devoted to two key areas that includes theranostics and surface-based sensing technologies. Our work on theranostics involves the synthesis and functionalisation of specific nanoparticle architectures for achieving desirable bio-nano interactions in vivo. The goal in this pursuit is to overcome the biologically-imposed barriers against nanomedicine, towards achieving successful treatment/diagnosis of disease. Our work on surface-based sensing involves high-precision synthesis of ultrathin polymer brush architectures that have integrated fluorophores throughout the structures. These new surfaces take the concept of "touch"-based sensing towards the nanoscale, where changes in polymer brush conformation can be spatially-resolved towards optical resolution.

Profiling projects

  • Mechanofluorescence Polymer Brush Surfaces for Investigating Microscopic Contact Forces at Aqueous Interfaces (DFG)
  • Understanding the Biomolecular Corona at the Nano-Bio Interface (Coorperation with Prof. Carsten Werner)
  • Hybrid Glycogen-Herparin Nanomaterials as Biocompatible and Biodegradable Materials (Coorperation with Prof. Carsten Werner, Dr. Uwe Freundenberg, Dr. Manfred Maitz)

Selected publications

  • Besford, Q.A., et al., Mechanofluorescent Polymer Brush Surfaces that Spatially Resolve Surface Solvation, ACS Nano, 2022, 16, 3383-3393.
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c00277
  • Besford, Q.A., et al., FRET-Integrated Polymer Brushes for Spatially-Resolved Sensing of Changes in Polymer Conformation, Angewandte Chemie, 2021, 133, 2-9.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202104204
  • Besford, Q.A., et al., The Protein Component of Oyster Glycogen Nanoparticles: An Anchor Point for Functionalization, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2020, 12, 38976-38988.
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c10699
  • Besford, Q.A., et al., Glycogen as a Building Block for Advanced Biological Materials, Advanced Materials, 2020, 1904625.
  • Besford, Q.A., et al., Self-Assembled Metal-Phenolic Networks on Emulsions as Low-Fouling and pH-Responsive Particles, Small, 2018, 39, 180234.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201802342