Drug Delivery and Targeting

Lecturer(s)

Dr. H.P. Merkel

Hour(s) of lecture(s), exercise(s) and credit points

2L
2CP

Teaching goals

The students dispose of an overview on current principles and systems for the controlled delivery and targeting of drugs. The focus of the course lies on developing a capacity to understand the involved technologies and methods, as well as an appreciation of the chances and constraints of their therapeutic usage, with prime attention on therapeutic peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and vaccines.

Summary and outline

The course covers the following topics: formulation and delivery of therapeutic peptides and proteins; vaccine delivery systems, delivery systems for therapies with growth factors; general introduction to drug targeting; diagnostic and therapeutic targeting of radiopharmaceuticals; drug delivery systems for ophthalmic use; cell penetrating peptides as vectors for cellular delivery; systems for gene delivery; drug delivery in the context of tissue engineering with mesenchymal stem cells. For completion students will report and discuss selected publications and developments in diverse fields of drug delivery and targeting.

Literature

A.M. Hillery, A.W. Lloyd, J. Swarbrick (Hrsg). Drug Delivery und Targeting, Taylor & Francis, London and New York 2001.

Further references will be provided in the course.