Christine Papadakis

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY MUNICH

e-mail :  papadakistum [dot] de

Phone :  +49 8928912447

    •    since 2015 Editor-in-Chief of Colloid & Polymer Science, Springer
    •    since 2012 Member of the Subcommittee of the Scientific Council Structure and Dynamics   of Soft Condensed Matter at ILL, Grenoble
    •    2011-2014 Member of the Project Review Panel X-ray diffraction/scattering - soft materials bulk at HASYLAB/DESY
    •    since Nov. 2003 Professor for Experimental Physics, Head of the Soft Matter Physics Group, associated with the Chair of Functional Materials. Women's representative of the Physics Department.
    •    1998 -2003 Research Fellow in the group of Prof. F. Kremer at the Faculty of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Leipzig. Focus on the slow collective dynamics of block copolymer melts and on thin block copolymer films. Habilitation Okt. 2003: Inner and outer interfaces in soft matter at the Faculty of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Leipzig.

Soft matter physics

The group Soft Matter Physics investigates mainly block copolymer sytems. In solution, in the gel, in thin film and in volume, these often form spontaneously structures on mesoscopic length scales, i.e. between 10 and 1000 Å. These may be micelles, micellar networks, lamellar or cylindrical structures. These structures can be used for the controlled formation of nanostructured, functional materials.
We study the structure and dynamics of such materials with small- and wide-angle X-ray and neutron scattering. These experiments are partially performed at large facilities. We combine these methods with dynamic light scattering and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

Thermoresponsive polymeric hydrogels are used as sensors and actuators as well as for controlled drug delivery and controllable nanofilters, because they react with a strong change of volume upon a small variation of temperature.
We are studying self-assembled, micellar hydrogels from block copolymers consisting of thermoresponsive and water-insoluble blocks. Besides the morphologies, we are especially interested in the kinetics of structural changes after a temperature jump across the collapse transition. To this end, we are using time-resolved X-ray and neutron small-angle scattering.
Also the segmental dynamics of the thermoresponsive block change drastically at the collapse. Using neutron spin-echo spectroscopy, we are investigating the dynamics in dependence on temperature and the polymer architecture.

Polymeric drug carriers for chemotherapy must fulfill a number of requirements. They are supposed to attack tumors specifically but not healthy tissue. We investigate polymers which carry both, a cytostatic drug (here: Doxorubicin) as well as hydrophobic groups (here: cholesterol), which are linked to the hydrophilic main chain by pH cleavable groups. The hydrophobic groups lead to aggregation of the polymers to nanoparticles. These cannot enter healthy tissue but can enter tumors through their leaky vessels. In the acidic environment present in the tumor, both the cytostatic drug as well as the hydrophobic groups are released. The polymer is now hydrophilic and is excreted by the body.
Important questions are the size and shape of the nanoparticles at low concentrations, the distribution of the cytostatic drug in the nanoparticle and the release kinetics during change of pH. We investigate these novel polymeric carriers using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and time-resolved small-angle neutron scattering.

 
    •    N.S. Vishnevetskaya, V. Hildebrand, B.-J. Niebuur, I. Grillo, S.K. Filippov, A. Laschewsky, P. Müller-Buschbaum, C.M. Papadakis: Aggregation behavior of doubly thermoresponsive polysulfobetaine-b-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) diblock copolymers. Macromolecules 49, 6655-6658 (2016).
    •     S. Koutsoumpis, K.N. Raftopoulos, M. Jancia, J. Pagacz, E. Hebda, C.M. Papadakis, K. Pielichowski, P. Pissis: POSS moieties with PEG vertex groups as diluent in polyurethane elastomers: Morphology and phase separation. Macromolecules 49, 6507-6517 (2016).
    •    S. Kripotou, C. Psylla, K. Kyriakos, K.N. Raftopoulos, J. Zhao, S. Pispas, C.M. Papadakis, A. Kyritsis: Structure and crystallization behvaior of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) chains in core-shell brush copolymers with poly(propylene oxide)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) side chains. Macromolecules 49, 5963-5977 (2016)
    •    K. Kyriakos, M. Philipp, L. Silvi, W. Lohstroh, W. Petry, P. Müller-Buschbaum, C.M. Papadakis: Solvent dynamics in solutions of PNIPAM in water/methanol mixtures - a quasi-elastic neutron scattering study. J. Phys. Chem. B 120, 4679−4688 (2016)
    •    X. Zhang, K. Kyriakos, M. Rikkou-Kalourkoti, E.N. Kitiri, C.S. Patrickios, C.M. Papadakis: Amphiphilic single and double networks: a small-angle X-ray scattering investigation. Colloid Polym. Sci. 294, 1027-1036 (2016)
    •    A. Campanella, A. Brás, K.N. Raftopoulos, C.M. Papadakis, O. Vassiliadou, A. Kyritsis, M.S. Appavou, P. Müller-Buschbaum, H. Frielinghaus: Dielectric relaxations of nanocomposites composed of HEUR polymers and magnetite nanoparticles. Polymer 96, 70-80 (2016)
    •    S. Jaksch, A. Schulz, Z. Di, R. Luxenhofer, R. Jordan, C.M. Papadakis
    •    Amphiphilic triblock copolymers from poly(2-oxazoline) with different hydrophobic blocks: Changes of the micellar structures upon addition of a strongly hydrophobic cancer drug
    •    Macromol. Chem. Phys. 13, 1448–1456 (2016)