Biomedical Polymers
Head: Tomáš Etrych
Prague node
HOME INSTITUTION
Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences
RESEARCH PROGRAMME(S)
RP 2 - Research and development of anticancer pharmaceuticals and therapeutic methods
Gentle and effective treatment in the first place!
- Mission: Design and synthesis of suitable transport systems for biologically relevant molecules.
- Vision: To develop polymeric biomaterials with unique properties for improved pharmacokinetics of drugs and their accumulation in tumor sites.
We focus on the study and development of advanced macromolecular therapeutics designed to overcome biological barriers in the treatment of resistant cancer diseases. Using advanced methods of polymer and organic chemistry and biochemistry, we develop tailor-made systems for the therapy of hematological malignancies and refractory tumors of the breast, pancreas, lung and colon. We focus primarily on the design, synthesis and physico-chemical and biological evaluation of water-soluble or micellar polymer nanotherapeutics.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Kostka L., Kotrchová L., Šubr V., Libánská A., Ferreira C.A., Malátová I., Lee H.J., Barnhart T.E., Engle J.W., Cai W., Šírová M., Etrych T. HPMA-based star polymer biomaterials with tuneable structure and biodegradability tailored for advanced drug delivery to solid tumours. Biomaterials. 2020,235, 119728. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2019.119728
- Pola R., Pokorná E., Vočková P., Böhmová E., Pechar M., Karolová J., Pankrác J., Šefc L., Helman K., Trněný M., Etrych T., Klener P. Cytarabine nanotherapeutics with increased stability and enhanced lymphoma uptake for tailored highly effective therapy of mantle cell lymphoma. Acta Biomaterialia. 2021, 119, 349-359. DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2020.11.014
- Tavares, M.R., Islam R., Šubr V., Hackbarth S., Gao S., Yang K., Fang J., Etrych T. Polymer nanomedicines serving as theranostics with multiple stimuli-based activation of photodynamic effect and tumor imaging, Theranostics 2023, 13, 4952-4973, DOI: 10.7150/thno.86211
- Pola R., Pechar M., Grosmanová E., Horák D., Krunclová T., Pankrác J., Henry M., Kaňa M., Bouček J., Šefc L., Coll J-L. and Etrych T. Stimuli Responsive Polymer Nanoprobes Intended for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery of Malignant Head-and-neck Tumors and Metastases, Advanced Healthcare Materials 2023, 2301183, DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202301183
- May J.N., Moss J., Mueller F., Golombek S., Biancacci I., Rizzo L., Grigoreva D., Moeckel D., Gremse F., Pola R., Pechar M., Etrych T, Bülow R., Boor P., Knuechel R., Stillfried S., Storm G., Puri S., Barry S., Schulz V., Kiessling F., Ashford M., Lammers T. Histopathological biomarkers for predicting the tumour accumulation of nanomedicines, Nature biomedical engineering 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41551-024-01197-4
COLLABORATION WITHIN THE NICR
Aleksi Šedo
(Prague node, First Faculty of Medicine CU)
Karel Smetana
(Prague node, First Faculty of Medicine CU)
Marek Kovář
(Prague node, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
Marián Hajdúch
(Olomouc node, Faculty of Medicine PU in Olomouc)
Markéta Bocková
(Prague node, Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
Michal Hocek
(Prague node, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
Milan Urban
(Olomouc node, Faculty of Medicine PU in Olomouc)
Pavel Klener
(Prague node, First Faculty of Medicine CU)
Pavel Souček
(Prague node, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen)
Tereza Ormsby
(Prague node, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE AND TECHNOLOGY
Design and synthesis of advanced drug delivery systems
Polymer, organic and biochemical synthesis
Advanced physico-chemical analysis
COLLABORATION WITH LARGE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES AND RESEARCH CENTRES
European and national infrastructure for biological and biomedical imaging Czech-BioImaging
Biotechnology and Biomedicine Centre of the Academy of Sciences and Charles University BIOCEV