Engineering the intestinal environment – in vitro and computational models to enable effective oral drug delivery

DRA lecture held by Professor Rebecca Carrier, NorthEastern University, Boston, US

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=da&user=P03R3JkAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

Drug delivery technologies, such as lipid-based delivery systems, have shown great promise for enabling oral delivery of compounds. Quantitative mechanistic understanding of transport phenomena in the drug delivery environment could facilitate rational design of effective delivery systems, as well as a priori prediction of the impact of delivery systems on oral absorption. Mechanistic studies of key oral drug delivery processes, such as drug dissolution and lipid digestion, can be paired with systems-based modeling to enable quantitative prediction of the impact of lipids on oral compound bioavailability. One challenge with development of such models and associated understanding is lack of appropriate experimental models for studying and understanding oral drug delivery. Key phenomena that are particularly challenging to study using existing tools include interactions with the mucus barrier and lymphatic transport. Advanced culture systems, such as gut-on-a-chip systems, offer promise for enabling meaningful studies of transport across mucus barriers and lymphatic transport in vitro.

The lecture is organised on behalf of the graduate programme in pharmaceutical sciences, Drug Research Academy, by Professor Anette Müllertz, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

The DRA lecture is free of charge and open for attendance by all interested parties. It is not necessary to pre-register.