Patricia Calvo, PhD

Department of Chemistry
pcalvo@ksu.edu
Departmental Website

Despite recent advances in cancer treatments, targeting ability and blood circulation times remain major challenges in cancer therapy. Many chemotherapeutic drugs are not specific to tumor tissues and their systemic uptake causes detrimental side effects. Higher drug doses must be given to deliver a high enough dose to the tumor cells. Additionally, short blood circulation times and drug instability may limit therapeutic efficacy. Polymers offer many opportunities to overcome these challenges: they improve drug stability, increase circulation time, and offer targeted delivery and sustained release of the drug.