Wright, Leah2025-12-172025-12-172022https://hdl.handle.net/11541.2/332511 ethesis (xxii, 109 pages) :illustrations (chiefly colour), charts (chiefly colour)Includes bibliographical references.Biological molecules are increasing in prevalence as therapeutic treatments. In addition, their encapsulation within nanoparticles is a popular strategy to help overcome complex hurdles within the body for efficient absorption. Despite this, it is often unclear how the choice of nanoparticle material influences its interaction with the body. This thesis explores how this choice of material influences the ability for nanoparticles to absorb into intestinal cells and cross the intestinal mucus layer. In particular, reliable analysis models of the intestinal mucus are lacking. This thesis explores how the currently available models can be improved to more closely replicate the natural intestinal mucus. Knowledge gained allows researchers to more efficiently choose particle materials for formulation development, and improves our current lab models to increase their predictive capacity.ennanoparticle;mucus;permeationDrugsIntestinal absorption.Nanoparticlesthesis