Evolving Nanobiomaterials for Therapeutic Drug Delivery
The Drug Delivery Core focuses on the design and development of optimal delivery systems for drugs, genes, proteins, and combinations of such to treat diseases such as cancer, infectious disease, macular degeneration, and to facilitate wound healing. The drug delivery systems explored within the Drug Delivery Core include synthetic polymers, lipid-mediated vehicles, and biopolymers constructed by genetic engineering. The basic tenet of drug delivery research is for optimal therapeutic efficacy with concomitant favorable patient compliance. Typically, effective pharmaceuticals against diseases such as cancer suffer from toxic side-effects; consequently, the faculty of the Drug Delivery Core are developing optimally targeted macromolecular delivery systems to limit the amount of administered therapeutic for effective treatments of a wide range of diseases. The Drug Delivery Core primarily focuses on the evolution of novel macromolecular delivery vehicles optimized for cell- and tissue-specific targeting, biocompatibility, and controlled release of the therapeutic cargo.
Research within the group includes the study of micellar polymer delivery systems for improved drug and gene delivery (Kwon), study of the properties of solids and crystalline forms of drugs (Yu), development of biomaterials with improved biocompatibility (Kao), fluorinated polymer and lipid systems for improved drug delivery (Mecozzi), modeling studies for predicting NMR spectra from first principles (Burnette), the development of novel drug carrier systems (de Villiers), the design/development of molecular contrast and imaging agents for application in diagnostic imaging and the development of radiopharmaceuticals for therapeutic use in oncology (Weichert).
DRUG DELIVERY CORE FACULTY : Burnette, de Villiers, Kao, Kwon, Mecozzi, Weichert, Xiong, Yu.