Date of Defense

4-24-2017

Date of Graduation

4-2017

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Sherine Obare

Second Advisor

Ekkehard Sinn

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals improve society’s quality of life, while preventing and curing a wide array of diseases. One of the most challenging causes of diseases in the 21st century is microorganisms that have developed resistance to antibiotics. The increased number of infectious diseases that cannot be treated by common antibiotics continues to be the cause of death in many areas globally. Researchers worldwide are increasingly investigating nanoparticles as potential drug delivery system carriers. Here, we investigate the effect of nanoparticle surfaces on the function of antibiotics at their interface. In developing nanoparticle based drug delivery systems, which exhibit a novel capacity to subvert common antibiotic resistance mechanisms. In the past few decades, researchers have been interested in synthesizing antibiotic functionalized nanoparticles, which inhibit the growth of bacteria but do not contribute to ever increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. The pharmaceutical industry faces increasing challenges in attempting to synthesize novel antibiotics capable of combating new antibiotic resistance mechanism exhibited by common bacterial species. This research project aims to synthesize and characterize ampicillin-functionalized nanoparticles as drug delivery systems capable of subverting antibiotic resistance.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

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