Engineering synthetic mucus biomaterials for local therapeutic delivery

Mucus is a biological gel that coats and protects epithelial surfaces in tissues throughout the body. Mucus is also enriched with antimicrobial peptides and antibodies against pathogens (e.g. bacteria, viruses) to control infection and prime the immune system. As such, the native function of mucus in health makes it an ideal biomaterial for local delivery of biologic drugs to epithelial surfaces. Towards this end, I will discuss our work to design new synthetic mucus based therapeutic strategies that recapitulate the anti-infective and immuno-modulatory capabilities of natural mucus.