Nanogels for Drug Delivery and biomedical applications

Nanogels have emerged as cutting-edge approaches in this domain for targeted drug delivery and advanced nanotheranostics. Nanogels are nanoscale hydrogels – polymeric networks swollen with water – that serve as versatile drug carriers, combining the high biocompatibility and tunable release properties of hydrogels with the tissue-penetrating size of nanoparticles. Nanogels are highly tunable due to the ability of using a variety of chemistries, colloidal and functional properties and building blocks in their design, facilitating tailoring of their overall size, surface charge, and payload release behavior. They can encapsulate therapeutic molecules (from small drugs to proteins and genes) and release them in a controlled or stimuli-responsive manner at target sites and that are polymeric networks swollen with water – that serve as versatile drug carriers, combining the high biocompatibility and tunable release properties of hydrogels with the tissue-penetrating size of nanoparticles. When integrated with drug delivery, nanogels can form closed-loop systems that automatically release therapeutics in response to detected stimuli. A biosensor-integrated delivery device might continuously sense a biomarker and trigger drug release only when needed, achieving on-demand dosing with high precision.