Polymer Therapeutics and Some Tales of the Unexpected

Synthetic polymers have many features which make them appealing for biomedical applications, including diverse structures and functionality, controllable stability and ease of manufacture. However, this diversity can also contribute to complexity in operation, and some surprises! In this talk I will discuss some of our recent data, and examples where our polymers have not behaved as expected.

Cameron Alexander is Professor of Polymer Therapeutics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Following BSc and PhD degrees in Chemistry at the University of Durham, UK, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis, University of Cambridge. Cameron was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry /Society of the Chemical Industry Macro Group UK Prize and Medal in 2014 for contributions to polymer science. He is currently the recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Interdisciplinary Prize and Medal 2025 for research at the interface of chemistry, pharmaceutical science and medicine. His laboratory aims to develop materials which can improve the delivery of small molecule drugs, genes and vaccine components to target sites in the body, to enhance therapeutic efficacy and reduce side-effects. The main focus is on polymer therapeutics, for which they are developing a range of synthetic, natural and hybrid materials to transport drugs, genes and cells safely and efficiently to disease locations. They are currently working on polymer formulations for cancer medicines, anti-infectives and RNA vaccines in collaboration with groups from all over the world.