title: Design of Near Infrared Light-Responsive Vesicle-Based Cargo Delivery Platform
creator: Schramm, Anastassiya
subject: ddc-540
subject: 540 Chemistry and allied sciences
description: Cargo delivery systems enable targeted drug transport, improving treatment effectiveness while reducing systemic side effects. Passive systems, though widely used due to their simplicity and cost-effectiveness, lack targeted delivery and controlled release. In contrast, active delivery systems respond to environmental stimuli, offering greater control and fewer side effects. Among them, hybrid systems combining lipid vesicles and gold nanoparticles are particularly promising due to their biomimetic properties and excellent photothermal responsiveness. However, many existing designs struggle to balance stability, biocompatibility, and control over release, highlighting the need for improved strategies. In this work, a near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive delivery platform based on giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) functionalized with gold nanorods (GNRs) is developed to overcome these challenges. With this aim, cargo-loaded biocompatible GUVs are produced using the emulsion transfer method. Effective GNRs attachment to the GUVs’ membrane is achieved by functionalizing the GNRs with Cholesterol, forming hybrid GNR-GUV complexes. Cargo release from the GNR-GUV hybrid system is demonstrated, and the underlying NIR-triggered release mechanism is described. Importantly, high release efficiency is reached by optimizing the Cholesterol concentration on GNRs, which plays a crucial role in controlling their aggregation on the GUV membrane. Finally, the practical potential of the developed trigger-responsive GNR-GUV hybrid system is demonstrated in a biological antibacterial context, in which Ampicillin-loaded GUVs are successfully implemented to trigger the elimination of E. coli bacteria. The developed biocompatible modular system provides a controlled delivery approach with broad potential for therapeutics, diagnostics and other biomedical applications.
date: 2025
type: Dissertation
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/37009/1/Schramm_Anastassiya_komplett_thesis_signed.pdf
identifier: DOI:10.11588/heidok.00037009
identifier: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-370092
identifier:   Schramm, Anastassiya  (2025) Design of Near Infrared Light-Responsive Vesicle-Based Cargo Delivery Platform.  [Dissertation]     
relation: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/37009/
rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights: Please see front page of the work (Sorry, Dublin Core plugin does not recognise license id)
language: eng