The drug delivery field is emerging as a key sector in driving innovation to bring new therapies to market and increase profitability. This inaugural conference will cover novel delivery approaches and their roles in developing and delivering biologics, designing targeted delivery approaches and improving efficacy and safety. These strategies are directed to the development of patient-centric therapies.
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TUESDAY, MAY 6
1:00 pm Registration
2:00 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Mansoor M. Amiji, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Northeastern University
2:05 KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Targeted Polymeric Nanoparticles: From Discovery to Clinical Trials
Omid Farokhzad, M.D., Associate Professor, Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials, Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Polymeric nanoparticles can deliver drugs in the optimum dosage over time, thus increasing the efficacy of the drug, maximizing patient compliance and enhancing the ability to use highly toxic, poorly soluble, or relatively unstable drugs. The successful clinical translation of therapeutic nanoparticles requires optimization of many distinct parameters resulting in a large number of potential variables for optimization which is impractical to achieve using a low-throughput approach. The goal of this talk is to review our efforts in the design and optimization of polymeric nanoparticles for medical applications, which formed the foundation for the clinical translation of the first-in-human targeted and controlled-release nanoparticles, BIND-014 and SEL-068.
2:35 FEATURED PRESENTATION: Conjugation and Fusion Technologies for Delivery of Biologics
Ashutosh Chilkoti, Ph.D., Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Director, Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Materials Systems, Duke University
I will summarize our three new drug delivery systems: 1) Attachment-triggered self-assembly of recombinant peptide polymers— packages small hydrophobic molecules into soluble polymer nanoparticles, and increases the solubility, plasma half-life and tumor accumulation of many hydrophobic small molecule drugs 2) Protease Operated Depot (POD) is an injectable delivery system based on thermally sensitive polypeptides for the sustained and tunable release of peptide drugs from a subcutaneous injection site 3) Instealth™—enables the site-specific in situ growth of a PEG-like polymer from the N-or C-terminus of a peptide or protein drug.
3:05 Evaluation and Applications of Heart on a Chip
Donald Cropek, Ph.D., Scientist, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Incorporating living cardiomyocytes into microfabricated devices has become a focus of research for applications in tissue engineering, toxicity assessment, diagnostics, and drug screening. Careful consideration of channel dimensions, cell seeding, and hydrogel coatings have enabled contractile myofibers with relevance to in vivo functions. We have built multichannel microfluidic devices with an independent beating myofiber in each channel for duplicative rapid testing of small molecule drugs, biologicals, and drug interactions.
3:35 Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
4:15 Selected Student Poster Presentations Competition
4:16 Bacterial Effector Proteins as Novel Self-Delivering Immunomodulatory Therapeutics
Marie-Luise Lubos, Institute of Infectiology, ZMBE, University of Muenster, Germany
Therapeutic application of biologics is often limited due to the poor delivery of hydrophilic molecules across the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells. We have identified a group of bacteria-derived cell-penetrating proteins that are not only able to translocate across the plasma membrane independently of a bacterial secretion system, but, interestingly, also reduce the expression of different pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, suggesting a potential therapeutic application as selfdelivering immunomodulatory agents in inflammatory diseases.
4:28 A Novel Blend Particle Delivery Platform for Engineering Subunit Vaccines against Mucosally Transmitted Viral Infections
Xi Zhan, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, WA
A polymeric nanoparticle system made of the mixture of pH-insensitive and –sensitive polymers has been developed in our laboratory for vaccine delivery. Co-delivering the mixture of optimized antigen and adjuvants particles to mice subcutaneously, the quantity and quality of both primary and memory immunity were successfully improved. In combination of a novel mucosal vaccination strategy, this particle system recruited sufficient immunity in local tissue and has efficiently protected the mice against Herpes Simplex virus-2 infection.
4:40 Novel Immunogen Delivery
Katarzyna Sawicka, Department of Biochemistry, Pathology and Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University
Using a novel self-administrable skin patch, we have successfully delivered antigens immobilized within nanofibrous matrices to the immunocompent regions of the skin in vitro and in a rat model. In rats, 24 hour applications of the immunogen patch triggered antigen-specific antibody responses, comparable to those elicited by intramuscular injection. Extended storage of macromolecular antigens was significantly enhanced by encapsulation within the nanofibrous matrix, while antigen biological functions and epitope motifs were preserved.
4:52 PEPDARTs: Rationally Designed Blood-Brain Barrier Delivery Vectors
John P. Trasatti, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
We have designed and developed a new generation of BBB delivery vectors termed PEPDARTs. PEPDARTs specifically target and transiently disrupt the tight¬-junctions of the BBB. We have mapped the key interactions responsible for the BBB’s restrictive properties and used this information to rationally design a large library. Lead PEPDART candidates showed enhanced permeability in an in vitro model of the human BBB for a broad range of molecular sizes. PEPDARTs can permit a safe, specific, and transient attenuation of the BBB for the delivery of therapeutics into the CNS.
5:10 Poster Award Winner Announced
5:15 End of Day
5:30 Short course Registration
6:00 - 9:00 pm Dinner Short Course 3: Development of High-Dose Biologics Dosage Forms*
*Separate registration required.
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