Thomas Dziubla, Ph.D.

Professor, Chemical Engineering; Department Chair

Antibiotic Resistance

Traditionally, free loading of drugs into hydrogels allows for release via first order diffusion. While this release strategy is generally simple to employ, drug release displays an initial burst effect due to the lack of molecular entrainment in the hydrogel matrix, and large initial concentration gradient. Many drawbacks exist in this scenario due to fast drug release, such as the disparity between drug release and degradation rate of the hydrogel; the drugs typically release more quickly. Most critically in the terms of implantable biomaterials, the residual hydrogel, now void of active drug, can become a harbor for bacteria to form a biofilm where the immune system has trouble accessing, creating grounds for infection.
Utilizing acrylate-amine chemistry, certain drugs can be polymerized into the backbone of the structure while maintaining their respective activity. Two molecules being currently reviewed for this effect, as well as for combinatorial effects, are that of the antibiotic vancomycin and antioxidant curcumin. It is hypothesized that the addition of these two will show synergistic effects towards the antibiotic activity of the hydrogel degradation product (i.e. the drug(s) released).

Multilayered polymeric self-assemblies as wound protective barriers in oral mucosal injuries:

Oral cavity possess a complex environment, including continual salivary flushing, fluid exuding from wounds, mastication, bacterial flora and digestive enzymes which poses significant treatment challenge for drug delivery and in developing an effective treatment strategy.  While the current standards of therapy (e.g., gels and mouth rinses) provide temporary relief, there is still an unmet need for a robust, long acting barrier that can provide lubricating protection in oral wounds, thereby enhancing the wound healing response. Our current research is focused on developing modular treatment strategies using polymer based self-assembly for oral regenerative therapy; overcoming the inadequacies in current treatment approaches.
As an alternative to the current treatment approaches, in situ multilayered barriers can be developed as a series of non-viscous mouth rinses, allowing for full coverage of all oral mucosal tissues. By providing a series of alternating streptavidin (or non-immunogenic neutravidin) and biotinylated polymer mouth rinses, multilayered polymeric barrier systems can be grown from the buccal surface in a layer-by-layer (LBL) process, as shown in Figure 1. Our research was intended towards understanding fundamental polymeric molecular properties and its effect on LBL growth. In order to realize such strategies for practical oral applications, functional property evaluation on stability of LBL under intra-oral chemical and mechanically conditions were critical. A lubricating surface that reduces adhesion to opposing tissue surfaces with significant stability against harsh intra-oral chemical conditions was observed, thus offering a potential treatment solution, which merits further investigation.

Peer Reviewed Publications

1. Cheryl Rabek, T.D. Dziubla and D.A. Puleo*. “The Effect of Plasticizers on the Erosion and Mechanical Properties of Polymeric Films” Journal of Biomaterials Application – (Accepted)
2. S.P. Authimoolam, D.A. Puleo and T.D. Dziubla*. “Affinity Based Multilayered Polymeric Self-assemblies for Oral Wound Applications.” Advanced Healthcare Materials Epub ahead of Print (2013)
3. Ramineni SK, Cunningham LL Jr, Dziubla TD, Puleo DA*. “Development of imiquimod-loaded mucoadhesive films for oral dysplasia.” J Pharm Sci. Nov 28. doi: 10.1002/jps.23386 (2012)
4. Brown ME, Zou Y, Dziubla TD, Puleo DA*. “Effects of composition and setting environment on mechanical properties of a composite bone filler” J Biomed Mater Res A. Sep 10. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.34399. (2012)
5. Howard MD, Lu X, Rinehart JJ, Jay M, Dziubla TD*, “Carboxylesterase-triggered hydrolysis of nanoparticle PEGylating agents.” Langmuir. Aug 21;28(33):12030-7 (2012)
6. J. Ambati, A.M. Lopez, D. Cochran, P. Wattamwar, K. Bean, T.D. Dziubla and S.E. Rankin*, “Loading and Protection of Antioxidant Enzyme on Engineered Silica” Acta Biomaterialia, 8(6):2069-103 PMID:22366223 (2012)
7. P. P. Wattamwar, D. Biswal, D. B. Cochran, A. Lyvers, Eitel RE, Anderson, KW J. Z. Hilt, and T. D. Dziubla*, “Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(antioxidant β-amino esters) for Controlled Release of Polyphenolic Antioxidants” Acta Biomaterialia, 8(7):2529-37 PMID:22426289 (2012)
8. D. Biswal, P.P. Wattamwar, T.D. Dziubla, J.Z. Hilt*. “Poly(β-amino ester) hydrogel synthesis by single-step polymerization method.” Polymer 52:5985-5992 (2011)
9. M. D. Howard, X. Lu, M. Jay, and T. D. Dziubla*, “Optimization of the Lyophilization Process for Long-term Stability of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles” Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy (2012) EPub Ahead of Print
10. E. Hood, E. Simone, P.P. Wattamwar, T.D. Dziubla and V.R. Muzykantov, “Nanocarriers for vascular delivery of antioxidants”, Review article, Nanomedicine 6(7):1257-72 (2011)
11. V.V. Shuvaev, M.A. Ilies, E. Simone, S. Zaitsev, Y. Kim, S. Cai, A. Mahmud ,T. Dziubla ,S. Muro, D.E. Discher, V.R. Muzykantov* “Endothelial Targeting of Antibody-Decorated Polymeric Filomicelles” ACS Nano 27:6991-9 (2011)
12. P. Wattamwar, S. Hardas, D.A. Butterfield, K. Anderson, T. Dziubla* “Tuning of the Pro-oxidant and Antioxidant Activity of Trolox Through the Controlled Release from Biodegradable Poly(trolox ester) Polymers” J. Biomed Mater Res A 99:184-91 (2011)
13. Medley JM, Kaplan E, Oz HS, Sundararaj SC, Puleo DA, Dziubla TD*. “Fibrin-targeted block copolymers for the prevention of postsurgical adhesions.” J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. doi: 10.1002/jbm.b.31876 (2011)
14. M. Howard, X. Lu, J. Rinehart, M. Jay and T. Dziubla* “Physicochemical Characterization of Nanotemplate Engineered Solid Lipid Nanoparticles” Langmuir 27(5):1964-71 (2011)
15. J. Kim, M. Howard, T. Dziubla, J. Rinehart, M. Jay and X. Lu* “Uniformity of Drug Payload and its Effect on Stability of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Containing an Ester Prodrug” ACS Nano (2010)
16. J. Medley, Heisterberg J, and T Dziubla* “Synthesis and Characterization of CREKA-Targeted Polymers for the Disruption of Fibrin Gel Matrix Propagation.” J Biomater Sci:Poly Ed 22(10):1363-78 (2011)
17. P. Wattamwar, Y. Mo, R. Wan, R. Palli, Q. Zhang and T. Dziubla*, “Antioxidant Activity of Degradable Polymer Poly(trolox ester) to Suppress Oxidative Stress Injury in the Cells.” Advanced Functional Materials 20:147-154 (2010)
18. Y Ma, Y Xiong*, J Zhai, H Zhu, and T Dziubla, “Fractionation and Evaluation of Radical Scavenging Peptides from in vitro Digests of Buckwheat Protein.” Food Chemistry 118:582-588 (2010)
19. J. Medley, E. Beane, E. Kaplan and T Dziubla* “Block copolymers for the rational design of self-forming postsurgical adhesion barriers.” Acta Biomaterialia 6:72-82 (2010)
20. E Simone*, T Dziubla, D Discher, and V Muzykantov. “Filamentous polymer nanocarriers of tunable stiffness that encapsulate the therapeutic enzyme catalase.” Biomacromolecules 10:1324-30 (2009)
21. E Simone*, T. Dziubla, E Arguiri, V Vardon, V Shuvaev, M Christofidou-Solomidou and V Muzykantov. “Loading PEG-catalase into filamentous and spherical polymer nanocarriers” Pharmaceutical Research 26:250-60 (2009)
22. E. Simone, T.D. Dziubla, and V. R Muzykantov*, “Polymeric Carriers: Role of Geometry in Drug Delivery.” Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery 5:1283-1300 (2008)
23. M. Howard, M Jay, T. Dziubla, X. Lu*, “PEGylation of Nanocarrier Drug Delivery Systems: State of the Art.” J Biomed Nanotech 4:133-148 (2008)
24. C. Garnacho, R. Dhami, E. Simone, T. Dziubla, J. Leferovich, E. H. Schuchman, V. Muzykantov, and S. Muro*. “Delivery of acid sphingomyelinase in normal and Niemann-Pick disease mice using ICAM-1-targeted polymer nanoparticles” JPET 325:400-408 (2008)
25. T.D. Dziubla*, V.V. Shuvaev, N.K. Hong, B. Hawkins, M. Muniswamy, H. Takano, E. Simone, M.T. Nakada, A. Fisher, S.M. Albelda, and V.R. Muzykantov, “Endothelial Targeting of Semi-permeable Polymer Nanocarriers for Enzyme Therapies.” Biomaterials 2:215-27 (2008)
26. E. Simone*, T. Dziubla, F. Colon, D. Discher and V.R. Muzykantov. “Amphiphilicity of PEG-PLA diblock copolymer controls the formulation and morphology of nanocarriers protecting loaded therapeutic enzyme from proteolysis” Biomacromolecules 8:3914-21 (2007)
27. S. Muro*, T.D. Dziubla, W. Qui, J. Leferovich, X. Cui, E. Berk and V.R. Muzykantov  “Endothelial targeting of high-affinity multivalent polymer nanocarriers directed to ICAM-1.” JPET 317(3):1161-9 (2006)
28. Ding BS, Dziubla T, Shuvaev VV, Muro S, Muzykantov VR.* “Advanced drug delivery systems that target the vascular endothelium.” Mol Interv. 2:98-112 (2006)
29. T.D. Dziubla*, A. Karim and V. Muzykantov, “Polymer nanocarriers (PNC) protect loaded catalase cargo from proteolysis.” Journal of Controlled Release 102(2), 427-439, (2005)
30. T.D. Dziubla and A.M. Lowman*, “Vascularization of PEG-grafted macroporous hydrogel sponges: a 3-dimensional in vitro angiogenesis model utilizing human microvascular endothelial cells.” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. 68A (4): 603-614, (2004)
31. T.D. Dziubla, M.C. Torjman, J.I. Joseph, M. Murphy-Tatum and A.M. Lowman*, “Evaluation of porous networks of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) as interfacial drug delivery devices.” Biomaterials 22, 2893-2899, (2001)

Conference Proceedings

1. D. Besser*, G. Swan, T. Dziubla and R. Eitel, “Building Continuous Loop Learning Communities: An Engineering Outreach Case Study” ASEE Southeast Spring Conference Proceedings (2008)
2. W. Zhang, P. Wattamar, K. Cummins, T. Dziubla, and R. E. Eitel*, “LTCC Based Microfluidic Structures for the Controlled Synthesis of Antioxidant Polymers,” in Proceedings of the IMAPS 2008, 41st International Symposium on Microelectronics. Providence, RI, 2008
3. A.M. Lowman, T.D. Dziubla and N.A. Peppas*, “Novel networks and gels containing increased amounts of grafted and crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol).” ACS Polymer Prepr., 38(1), (1997)

Book Chapters

1. D. Cochran and T. Dziubla*, “Antioxidant polymers for tuning biomaterial biocompatibility: From Drug Delivery to Tissue Engineering” In: “Antioxidant Polymers Synthesis, Properties, and Applications.” Ed: G. Cirillo, F. Iemma. (2012)
2. P.P. Wattamwar and T. Dziubla*, “Modulation of the Wound Healing Response Through Oxidation Active Materials” In: Engineering Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine: Novel Technologies for Clinical Applications.” Ed: S.K. Bhatia. (2012)
3. J. Medley and T Dziubla*, “Prevention of Postsurgical Adhesions: A Biomaterials Perspective” In: Biological Interactions on Materials Surfaces. Eds: D Puleo and R Bizios. 398-416 (2009)
4. E. Simone, T. Dziubla, V Shuvaev and V.R. Muzykantov*, “Synthesis and Characterization of Polymer Nanocarriers for Therapeutic Enzyme Delivery.” In: 2nd Edition for Methods in Molecular Biology: Free Radicals and Antioxidant Protocols (In Press)
5. T.D. Dziubla and V. Muzykantov*, “Nanocarriers for drug delivery to the pulmonary vasculature.” In: Nanoparticulates as Drug Carriers, V Torchilin, Ed. Imperial College Press, London. (2006)
6. T.D. Dziubla and V. Muzykantov*, “Synthetic carriers for the delivery of protein therapeutics.” In: Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews Vol. 22., S.E. Harding Ed., Lavoisier Publishing, Paris, France 267-298 (2006)
7. T. Dziubla*, S. Muro, V. R. Muzykantov and M. Koval, “Nanoscale antioxidant therapeutics.” In: Oxidative Stress, Disease and Cancer, Keshav K. Singh, Ed. Imperial College Press, London. (2006)
8. A.M. Lowman*, T.D. Dziubla, P. Bures and N.A. Peppas, “Structural and dynamic response of neutral and intelligent networks in biomedical environments.” in N.A. Peppas and M.V. Sefton, eds., “Advances in Chemical Engineering Vol 29: Molecular and Cellular Foundations of Biomaterials.” Academic Press, New York, (2004)
9. V. Shuvaev, T. Dziubla, R. Wiewrodt and V. Muzykantov*, “Streptavidin-biotin cross-linking of therapeutic enzymes with carrier antibodies: nanoconjugates for protection against endothelial oxidative stress.” In: Methods in Molecular Biology V 283: Bioconjugation Protocols: Strategies and Methods, C.Niemeyer, Ed., Humana Press, (2004)
10. T.D. Dziubla, M.C. Torjman, J.I. Joseph and A.M. Lowman*, “Implantable drug delivery devices: design of a biomimetic interfacial drug delivery system.” In: Biomimetic Materials and Design: Interactive Biointerfacial Strategies, Tissue Engineering, and Targeted Drug Delivery, A K Dillow and A M Lowman, Eds., Marcel Dekker, (2003)
11. T.D. Dziubla and A.M. Lowman*, “Smart gels.” In: Encyclopedia of Smart Materials, M. Schwartz  Ed. Wiley and Sons, (2001)

Post-doc

Dr. Nihar Shah
Research: Synthesis And Characterization of Antioxidant Conjugated Poly(beta amino ester) Gel Microparticles For The Suppression of Oxidative Stress.

M. Arif Khan, 2019 - 2022
 

Graduate Students

Dustin Savage

Kelley Wiegman

Dr. Irfan Ahmad, 2015-19
(Thesis: Synthesis, Design, and Evaluation of the Fluorescent Detection of Polychlorinated Biphenyls(PCBs) in Aqueous System)

Dr. Carolyn Jordan, 2015-18
(Thesis: Design and Analysis of Curcumin Conjugated Poly(beta-amino ester) Networks for Controlled Release in Oxidative Stress Environments)

Dr. Vinod Patil, 2012-16
(Thesis: Formulation And Characterization of Poly(Beta Amino Ester) Network For Controlled Delivery of Antioxidants in Pharmaceutical Applications)

Dr. Prachi Gupta, 2011-16
(Thesis:  Synthesis And Characterization of Antioxidant Conjugated Poly(βeta-Amino Ester) Micro/Nanogels For The Suppression of Oxidative Stress)

Dr. Sundar Prasanth Authimoolam, 2009-15
(Thesis: Biomimetic Oral Mucin From Polymer Micelle Networks)

Dr. Andrew Lakes, 2010–15
(Thesis: Bioactive Poly(Beta-Amino Ester) Biomaterials For Treatment of Infection And Oxidative Stress)

Dr. David Cochran, 2009-13
(Thesis: Application of Antioxidants and Anti-inflammatory Polymers to Inhibit Injury and Disease)

Dr. Paritosh Wattamwar, 2006-11
(Thesis: Synthesis and Characterization of Polymeric Antioxidant Delivery Systems)

Dr. John Medley, 2006-10
(Thesis: Targeted Polymeric Biomaterials for the Prevention of Post Surgical Adhesion)

Undergraduates

Mentor: Andrew Lakes

Elysha Calhoun, Redox Behavior of Disulfide-crosslinked PBAE Hydrogels, CME 395, University of Kentucky, 2015

Nic Quammen, Extrusion of antioxidant polymers for use with 3D printing, LaFayette High School, 2014-2015

Alexandra May, 3D Printed Meshes with Antioxidant Delivery, IGERT Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) participant, Florida State University, 2013

Stephanie Cleaver, Multiphase Drug Release Through a Loaded Biodegradable Hydrogel, IGERT Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) participant, DePauw University, 2012

Adam Lyvers, Poly (β-amino ester) Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles as Biomimetic Sinks for Polychlorinated Biphenyl Detoxification, IGERT Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) participant. University of Kentucky, 2011

Mentor: Prachi Gupta

Erin Bellhorn, Synthesis and Charaterization of Poly(trolox) Co-polymers to Suppress Oxidative Stress, 2014

Manali Panchal, Antioxidant Capacity of Curcumin with respect to time after incubation with Human Dermal Fibroblasts, 2014

Donavyn Coffey, Synthesis and Characterization of Curcumin conjugated Poly(Beta-Amino Ester) gel microparticles, 2014

John Bilbily, Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(L-Carnitine) Polymer, 2015

Sarah Coulson

Mentor: Sundar Prasanth Authimoolam

Robert DeJaco

Kristin Mulliniks

Mentor: Vinod Patil

Ashley Lay

Alexandra May

Benjamin Burdette

Zoe Poncher

Annah Baykal

Mentor: Carolyn Jordan

Ava Vargason

Sarah Coulson

Hannah Dvorak

Mentor: Irfan Ahmad

Oscar Zabala

Barry Umeh

Thomas D. Dziubla, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Kentucky, has been named the next chair of the University of Kentucky Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering.

https://www.engr.uky.edu/news/2018/12/dziubla-named-next-chemical-and-materials-engineering-department-chair

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Thomas D. Dziubla, Ph.D., to its College of Fellows. Dziubla was nominated, reviewed and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for “seminal contributions to biomaterials and advanced drug delivery, establishing the field of biomaterials capable of regulating oxidative stress.”

https://www.engr.uky.edu/news/2019/03/dziubla-inducted-aimbe-college-fellows?fbclid=IwAR0EYSMrPuZx1SIWealx5vp-RWzr0S890TRRzxWKALaAY4MZvIoXjTCXbNM