Research Goal

          The translation of materials science and pharmaceutical engineering to target

therapeutic molecules to a biological site of action

   Rationale

Assessing bench-level molecules:

The transition from a molecular understanding of the cell biology of disease to a successful therapeutic approach requires a collaborative team of researchers from key disciplines.

Although therapeutic agents and gene delivery systems may be well designed for action at the molecular and intracellular level, often these approaches will fail due to inefficient drug delivery and targeting at higher levels of biological systems (i.e. intracellular transport and resistance mechanisms, inefficient organ targeting, rapid complete systemic degradation and metabolism, etc...).

Thus, translation of promising therapeutic approaches originating from cellular and biochemical research often requires advanced pharmaceutical approaches to achieve appropriate drug delivery to the site of action.  Although this model is accepted to some degree by the pharmaceutical industry, basic science has been slow to realize the critical need for advanced drug delivery approaches in early evaluation of drug efficacy.