Characterization
Characterization of materials and drug carrier systems
Characterization of materials and drug carriers on different hierarchical levels—from molecular composition to macroscopic structure—is essential for understanding their functional performance. Each level of organization influences key properties such as drug loading capacity, release kinetics, mechanical stability, and biocompatibility. Comprehensive, multi-scale analysis enables rational design and optimization of carriers tailored to specific therapeutic applications.
Our activities, either conducted in our labs or together with cooperation partners, include the structural analysis of polymers (e.g., NMR, GPC), the thermal and mechanical analysis of materials and drug carriers (e.g., DSC, TGA, tensile testing, micromechanical testing, AFM), various microscopy techniques (including light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, electron microscopy), along with sample preparation techniques such as (cryo-)microtomy. We also perform analysis of particle sizes and charges, surface characterization methods, and molecular interaction studies. In vitro cell culture with cell lines and primary human cells is part of our material characterization.
While material characterization is part of all of our experimental studies, in some papers, we also concentrated on analytical method development:
S. Baudis, T. Roch, M. Balk, C. Wischke, A. Lendlein, M. Behl. Multivariate Analysis of Cellular Uptake Characteristics for a (Co)polymer Particle Library, ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng. 2024, 10, 3, 1481–1493; https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c01803
O. Altabal, C. Wischke. Analyzing the Mechanical Properties of Free-Standing PACA Thin Films Using Microindentation Technique. Polymers. 2022; 14(22):4863. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14224863
C. Wischke, D. Hofmann, Predictive Shapes of Ellipsoid PPDL-PTHF Copolymer Particles Prepared by the Phantom Stretching Technique, Polymers 2022, 14(18), 3762; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14183762
F. Friess, C. Wischke, A. Lendlein. Microscopic analysis of shape-shiftable oligo(ε-caprolactone) - based particles. MRS Advances, 3199–3206 (2019). doi:10.1557/adv.2019.392
C. Wischke, A. Lendlein, Method for Preparation, Programming, and Characterization of Miniaturized Particulate Shape-Memory Polymer Matrices, Langmuir 30 (2014), 2820-2827. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la4025926
C. Wischke, H.H. Borchert, Increased sensitivity of chitosan determination by a dye binding method, Carbohyd Res, 341 (2006) 2978-2979. DOI: 10.1016/j.carres.2006.10.012