Nanoporous alumina and titania templates for drug/gene delivery

New generations of biomedical implants and cardiovascular stents that are currently being used have the property of localized elution of drug molecules to enhance lifetime of these devices and for bio-integration. In this project Sridhar group is using nanoporous alumina and titania coatings for localized drug and gene delivery applications. They have fabricated nanoporous alumina and titania films on metal substrates with precise control on pore diameter, interpore distance and film thickness.

As a proof-of-concept for drug-loading within these films, dye-labeled polystyrene beads were filled within nanoporous alumina templates. The group is now working on in-vitro experiment to study loading and release of plasmid DNA and drug molecules from these nanoporous alumina templates.