Biodegradable particles as vaccine delivery systems

ii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to my teachers, colleagues and friends for their support and help that has brought this thesis research to a successful completion. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Dr. Aliasger Salem for giving me the grand opportunity to undertake this thesis research. His awe-inspiring personality, stimulating suggestions and encouragement have motivated me throughout this thesis project. In addition, he is always accessible and willing to help his students with their research. As a result, learning became smooth and rewarding for me. I want to express my sincere gratitude for his help, valuable guidance and financial support during the program of study at University of Iowa. Medicine for their collaboration in this research work and helpful suggestions during the process. I am also grateful to Dr. Andrea A. Dodd, Dr. Xuefang Jing and Amani Makkouk for assisting me with their expertise during the implementation of my research hypothesis in different disease models. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. for their valuable suggestions during the progress of this thesis research that has made me a better research scientist. I also want to express my gratitude to Dr. Lewis Stevens for agreeing to be on my thesis committee. His collaboration and insightful discussion regarding the polymer particle delivery systems has been very helpful during the writing process of this dissertation. This thesis would not have been possible without the assistance of my lab members. I would like to thank Dr. Khorsand Sourkohi and Anh-Vu T Do for their passionate participation in discussion, continuous feedback and collaboration during the experimental conduct. In addition, I will never forget the wonderful time I had during barbeques, group lunches and Halloween gatherings. I would like to iii extend a special thanks to Dr. Sean Geary for the training in various immunological assays, providing valuable comments on my writing and proofreading my thesis. Completion of this work would have been difficult without his continuous support. I also want to extend my gratitude to the former members of the lab Dr. for training me in different laboratories techniques during early years of my thesis research. I would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. Yogita Krishnamachari and Dr. Caitlin Lemke for providing me continual technical advice and emotional support during past five years. A very special thanks to Sandeep Bodduluri and Amaraporn Wongrakpanich aka Kae …