IBEC Seminar: Nanobio-technology for drug delivery: fundamental aspects and translational applications

Nanobio-technology for drug delivery: fundamental aspects and translational applications

The design of targeting and carrier strategies to enable delivery of therapeutic or diagnostic agents to areas of the body requiring intervention is an active research field. Therapeutic and diagnostic targets are often confined to specific regions or tissues in the body, where access may require active transport from the circulation into the subjacent tissue. In addition, once within the tissue or body compartment of interest, most targets of intervention relate to sub-cellular environments, e.g., the cell surface versus different intracellular compartments, further requiring strategies to achieve this goal.

Using polymer nanocarriers functionalized with affinity moieties against single or combined cell-surface receptors, along with additional biological signaling moieties, my laboratory focuses on understanding the parameters that regulate transport of drug delivery vehicles across cellular barriers and into cells of subjacent tissues. We examine these aspects using cell culture models with subsequent validation in laboratory animals to correlate molecular/cellular mechanisms with in vivo outcomes. We investigate the influence exerted on targeting and uptake by drug carrier design parameters (size, shape, avidity, combination targeting, etc.) and parameters that are intrinsic to the physiological system (disease states, flow, receptor epitopes being targeted, modulation of regulatory molecules, etc.). The characterization of these complex physiological and design parameters, along with the understanding of the mechanisms governing the interaction of drugs carriers with the surrounding biological environment, are necessary steps toward achieving efficient drug delivery systems.

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