Biophysics of Drug Delivery: new working group under the Integrative Pharmacology and Drug Discovery theme
Vito Foderà is Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, and working group leader.
A new working group, Biophysics of Drug Delivery, has been established under the Integrative Pharmacology and Drug Discovery, IPDD, theme.
Its aim is to develop orthogonal approaches for designing and characterising efficient drug delivery systems, from pharmaceutical formulation development to the design of novel materials, and to develop methods for biophysical analysis of biomolecules.
– We want to foster a novel culture in the pharmaceutical sciences, by combining neutrons and X-ray sciences with imaging and spectroscopic approaches. By bringing together scientists with different backgrounds, in the interdisciplinary setting provided by LINXS, and the IPDD theme, we can start to tackle the main obstacles preventing drugs to reach their target, says Vito Foderà, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen, and working group leader.
He explains some obstacles are related to lack of knowledge on the fundamental interactions between active compounds and interfaces. This is why it is extremely important to develop quantitative and advanced methods specifically aimed at retrieving information at single molecule level, according to Vito Foderá.
The working group is planning several activities for 2023 and 2024. They include a workshop in the autumn of 2023, a webinar series focusing on different aspects of drug delivery, from formulations to routes of administration, and - still on an idea level - a guest PhD student hosted by one of the labs affiliated with the researchers in the group.
The working group consists of researchers from the University of Copenhagen: Associate Professor Vito Foderà, Professors Thomas Rades and Anette Mullertz, and Lund University: Professor Marie Wahlgren.
About the researchers in the working group
- Vito focuses on the fundamental protein-protein interactions ruling conformational changes of protein molecules, self-assembly mechanisms, and the structure of the self-assembled protein species.
- Thomas is interested in improving drug therapy through appropriate formulation and to increase our understanding of the physicochemical properties of drugs and medicines.
- Annette focuses on drug delivery of small molecules via innovative pharmaceutical formulations, including lipid drug delivery systems.
- Marie´s focus is on depo-formulations and recently on protein/surfactant interactions.