Tomoki Nishimura

As "biotransporting nanofactories", in vivo therapeutic biocatalyst nanoreactors would enable encapsulated enzymes to transform inert prodrugs or neutralize toxic compounds at target disease sites. This would offer outstanding potential for next-generation therapeutic platforms, such as enzyme prodrug therapy. Designing such advanced materials has, however, proven challenging. Here, it is shown that self-assembled nanofactories formulate with polymeric vesicles with an intrinsically permeable me

We have developed a simple and robust fluorescence based boronic-acid molecular sensor for determining the concentration of fluoride in water at environmentally significant levels. The simplicity of the method and the ability to measure fluoride in water between 0.1 and 1.5 ppm is particularly noteworthy given the WHO requirements for detecting levels of fluoride in drinking water below 1.5 ppm.

Vesicles with molecular permeability have attracted considerable attention as biomedical materials, e.g., as biocatalytic nanoreactors for drug delivery and artificial cells. However, their applications are limited by their low permeability for enzyme substrates. Here, we report the synthesis of oligo(aspartic acid)-<i>b</i>-poly(propylene oxide) polymer vesicle nanoreactors with a negatively charged surface, which are preferentially permeable for cationic and neutral compounds. The permeation o

Controlling polymer vesicle size is difficult and a major obstacle for their potential use in biomedical applications, such as drug-delivery carriers and nanoreactors. Herein, we report size-tunable polymer vesicles based on self-assembly of a thermoresponsive amphiphilic graft copolymer. Unilamellar polymer vesicles form upon heating chilled polymer solutions, and vesicle size can be tuned in the range of 40-70 nm by adjusting the initial polymer concentration. Notably, the polymer can reversib

Drug-delivery systems (DDSs), in which drug encapsulation in nanoparticles enables targeted delivery of therapeutic agents and their release at specific disease sites, are important because they improve drug efficacy and help to decrease side effects. Although significant progress has been made in the development of DDSs for the treatment of a wide range of diseases, new approaches that increase the scope and effectiveness of such systems are still needed. Concepts such as nanoreactors and nanof

The fluorene derivative tilorone has received great attention as a DNA intercalator and has been widely recognized as an inducer of interferon. The biological activity of tilorone is known to be related to its binding mode with DNA; however, few structural and thermodynamic studies have elaborated on this issue. This paper presents two-dimensional (2-D) NMR and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) for the tilorone/DNA complex, coupled with circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and viscosity mea

An amphiphilic macrocycle based on pillar[5]arene with polar lysine head groups spontaneously self-assembles into a bimolecular micelle in water. This self-assembled structure was characterized by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), field flow fluctuation coupled with multi-angle light scattering (FFF-MALS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The self-assembly of amphiphilic pillar[5]arene into dimeric spherical micelles represents a new molecular architecture for micelle formation.

Interest in amylose and its hybrids has grown over many decades, and a great deal of work has been devoted to developing methods for designing functional amylose hybrids. In this context, phosphorylase-catalyzed polymerization shows considerable promise as a tool for preparing diverse amylose hybrids. Recently, advances have been made in the chemoenzymatic synthesis and characterization of amylose-block-polymers, amylose-graft-polymers, amylose-modified surfaces, hetero-oligosaccharides, and cel

Molecular chaperones play critical roles in biological functions. They are closely involved in the maintenance of cell homeostasis, proper folding of proteins and nucleic acids, and inhibition of irreversible aggregation in denatured proteins. In addition to protein production, molecular chaperone function is widely recognized as important for peptide and protein drug delivery systems. Therefore, much effort has been made in recent decades to develop chaperone-mimetic molecules that have similar

Nanometer-size gel particles, or nanogels, have potential for delivering therapeutic macromolecules. A cationic surface promotes cellular internalization of nanogels, but undesired electrostatic interactions, such as with blood components, cause instability and toxicities. Poly(ethylene glycol) coating has been used to shield charges, but this decreases delivery efficiency. Technical difficulties in synthesis and controlling molecular weights make it unfeasible to, instead, coat with biodegradab

This review describes the self-assembly of sparsely grafted amphiphilic copolymers and highlights the effects of structural factors and solvents on their self-assembly behaviour.

A self-assembled nanogel is constructed from light-sensitive cholesteryl pullulan (Ls-CHP) by using photo-labile ortho-nitrobenzyl (o-NB) units. The nanogel-based film is obtained by evaporation of an Ls-CHP nanogel solution. Exposure of the resulting nanogel-based film to light with a mask resulted in a patterned film that can encapsulate FITC-insulin.

A thermo-responsive poly(<italic>n</italic>-propyl oxazoline) block was employed as the hydrophobic segment in an amphiphilic glyco polymer. This approach affords intrinsically permeable polymer vesicles for water-soluble compounds.

An approach for the fabrication of self-healing injectable hydrogels based on the crystallization-driven self-assembly of carbohydrate-conjugated poly(2-isopropyloxazoline)s is demonstrated.

This review discusses the self-assembly of amphiphilic linear and various non-linear polymers such as star and cyclic architectures, highlighting how polymer architecture impacts self-assembly behavior.