Ms. Preeti Rathi

Indian Institute of Technology, India

Abstract Title: Functionality Variation in Nano-COFs Leads to Variable Cellular Uptake and Cytotoxicity

Biography:

Preeti Rathi is a Ph.D. scholar at Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India. She has completed her bachelor’s and master’s degree in biotechnology from SVPUAT, U.P., India. Her Ph.D. research work is based on developing covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as nanocarriers for anticancer drug delivery. She has published one research article from her Ph.D. thesis work.

Research Interest:

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) show promises as organic drug delivery nanocarriers due to their porosity and high surface area. Our study explores how varying functionalities in nano-COFs affect cellular uptake and anticancer drug delivery. Three isoreticular COFs with identical backbones and similar sizes (75-80 nm) but different functionalities (-H, -OH, -OMe) were synthesized. These nano-COFs exhibited varying drug loading capacities, with the highest reaching 31.9 wt%. Pluronic F127 modification enhanced their stability in cell culture medium. In-vitro studies revealed functionality-based differences in uptake by A549 lung cancer cells and variations in cytotoxicity for both cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines. This research demonstrates the potential for tailoring COF-based drug delivery systems through surface chemistry modifications, opening new avenues for developing more effective and targeted cancer therapies. By tuning the surface functionalization of nano-COFs, we could enhance their performance in drug loading, cellular uptake, and cytotoxicity, potentially revolutionizing cancer treatment strategies.