Fundamentals of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience

Nanoscience or the science of the very small offers the pharmaceutical scientist a wealth of opportunities. By fabricating at the nanoscale, it is possible to exert unprecedented control on drug activity. This textbook will showcase a variety of nanosystems working from their design and construction to their application in the field of drug delivery. The book is intended for graduate students in drug delivery, physical and polymer chemistry, and applied pharmaceutical sciences courses that involve fundamental nanoscience.

The purpose of the text is to present physicochemical and biomedical properties of synthetic polymers with an emphasis on their application in polymer therapeutics i.e., pharmaceutical nanosystems, drug delivery and biological performance. There are two main objectives of this text. The first is to provide advanced graduate students with knowledge of the principles of nanosystems and polymer science including synthesis, structure, and characterization of solution and solid state properties. The second is to describe the fundamentals of therapeutic applications of polymers in drug delivery, targeting, response modifiers as well as regulatory issues.

The courses, often listed as Advanced Drug Delivery and Applied Pharmaceutics; Polymer Therapeutics; or Nanomedicine, are designed as an overview of the field specifically for graduate students in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Programs. However, the course content may also be of interest for graduate students in related biomedical research programs.

These courses generally include a discussion of the major principles of polymer science and fundamental concepts of application of polymers as modern therapeutics. All courses are moving away from the above mentioned course names and going by ‘pharmaceutical nanoscience or nanosystems’. This area of research and technology development has attracted tremendous attention during the last two decades and it is expected that it will continue to grow in importance. However, the area is just emerging and courses are limited but they are offered.

Professor Ijeoma F. Uchegbu

Ijeoma Uchegbu is Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at the UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London and Chief Scientific Officer of Nanomerics, a spin out company from the UCL School of Pharmacy in London.

She obtained her PhD from the School of Pharmacy, University of London in 1994, was appointed to a lectureship within the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Strathclyde University in 1997 and a Chair in Drug Delivery at Strathclyde University in 2002.  In 2006 Ijeoma was appointed to the Chair in Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at the School of Pharmacy and in 2010 Ijeoma founded Nanomerics with Andreas G. Schätzlein. Nanomerics is a speciality pharmaceutical company focused on exploiting pharmaceutical nanotechnology platforms (http://www.nanomerics.com/) for medicines development.

Ijeoma’s research in pharmaceutical nanoscience has provided insights into nanoparticle design for drug delivery, producing nanosystems (nanomedicines) that promote oral drug absorption, peptide drug transport to the brain and, in collaboration with Andreas Schätzlein, gene/ siRNA transport to experimental tumours.

Ijeoma is the former Scientific Secretary of the Controlled Release Society (CRS), a learned society with over 2,000 members, with interests in the delivery of pharmaceuticals, former Chair of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Great Britain and the former Academia Expert on the Department for Business Innovation and Skills’ Science Engineering and Technology Strategy for Women Expert Group.

Ijeoma has been awarded various prizes for her work, notably the UK Department for Business Innovation Skills’ Women of Outstanding Achievement in Science Engineering and Technology award (http://www.theukrc.org/women/women-of-outstanding-achievement/2007-collection/professor-ijeoma-uchegbu) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Pharmaceutical Scientist of the Year 2012 and she was elected to the Controlled Release Society College of Fellows in 2013.

Ijeoma is the editor of two books, a named inventor on 10 granted patents and 11 patent families. Ijeoma has also authored over 90 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Dr Andreas G. Schatzlein

Andreas Schatzlein has a track record of medicines development and translational research in industry and academia. His research interests focus on the discovery and preclinical/clinical development of targeted anti-cancer drugs and nanomedicines and the understanding of their underlying biology. Andreas is a veterinary surgeon by training and, after completion of his doctorate on transdermal nanomedicines delivery, joined the biotech start-up IDEA in Munich to develop this technology commercially.

In 1996 joined academia at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Laboratories at the University of Glasgow where became leader of the Experimental Therapeutics and Gene Medicines Group. There he was also responsible for setting up a unit that carried out analysis of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics readouts from early phase translational oncology/nanomedicines trials using a good clinical laboratory practice framework. He currently is a Reader at the UCL School of Pharmacy and co-founder and CEO of Nanomerics Ltd, a UCL spinout company developing pharmaceutical nanotechnology.

Dr Woei Ping Cheng

Woei Ping Cheng joined the School of Pharmacy at University of Hertfordshire, UK as a senior lecturer in pharmaceutics in January 2009. Prior to obtaining her PhD in 2005, she was a lecturer at the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, The Robert Gordon University, UK. She obtained her first class BSc (Hons) Pharmacy and PhD from University of Strathclyde. Her research interest is in the use of novel self-assembling polymers for the delivery of challenging therapeutic agents such as hydrophobic drugs, proteins and siRNA. She is the editorial board member of Drug Delivery Letters and chair person of UK-Ireland Controlled Release Society (UKICRS). She had been invited to chair and speak in a number of national and international scientific conferences and has published more than 35 peer-reviewed papers and conference abstracts, 3 patents and one book chapter. Her research is supported by industry, charity and UK research council.

Dr Aikaterini Lalatsa

Aikaterini Lalatsa is a Lecturer in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, in the Department of Pharmacy, University of Hertfordshire working in development of oral nanomedicinal formulations utilizing biodegradable polymers and lipids. Her research interests include engineering, synthesis, characterization, and preclinical evaluation of novel nanocarriers for brain delivery of APIs and biomacromolecules, peptide delivery utilizing non-invasive routes and oral delivery of poorly soluble drugs. Aikaterini has worked as a research fellow in Universityof Patra on an FP7 project (Nanoparticles for Therapy and Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease project) and in School of Pharmacy, University of London (UCL School of Pharmacy) on a EPSRC-GSK funded project with aim to translate patented platform technology that stemmed out her PhD work into an oral peptide nanomedicine. Aikaterini is a registered pharmacist in the UK and Greece and has obtained her PhD in degree in 2009 at the School of Pharmacy, University of London on oral nanoparticulate peptide delivery to the brain.