Graduate NIH Training in BiotechnologyTrainees
Sam Rothstein
Rational Design of Controlled Release Therapeutics My project aims to replace the existing heuristic design approach for formulating controlled release therapeutics with a new rational design methodology. The impact of this new engineering approach to therapeutic formulation would be manifest not only in obviating the need for prohibitively costly and time consuming experimentation at the validation stages, but also in what is deemed possible at the design stage. This rational design approach is enabled through a new mathematical model that predicts drug release from tunable formulation parameters, commonly used to categorize biodegradable polymer matrices. Hence, a matrix fabricated to model specifications, generated by regression to a desired release profile, will produce an in vitro release profile matching a desired theoretical one. To demonstrate the power of model-driven design method, new therapeutics that represent two extremes of release behavior will be engineered. One, a single injection vaccine, requires precisely timed pulsatile release, which has eluded researcher for over 20 years. The other, a sustained release immunosuppressant, requires the constant, sustained delivery of drug afforded by a linear release profile, a feature that has been considered unattainable with the popular polymer, poly(lactide-co-glycolic) acid. By fabricating these two therapeutics, we hope to advance the state of the art, setting our rational design methodology as a new standard for research and development in the field of controlled release therapeutics.
Courses Fundamentals of Reaction Processes Mathematical Methods in Chemical Engineering Issues in Research and Teaching Fundamentals of Transport Processes Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology (Biotechnology Training Program) Fundamentals of Immunology Experimental Basis of Immunology Cell and Molecular Physiology of Normal Disease States Introduction to Immunobiotherapeutics
Salerno, M.B., Rothstein, S., Nwachukwu, C., Shelbi, H., Velegol, D., Logan, B.E. Differences between chemisorbed and physisorbed biomolecules on particle deposition to hydrophobic surfaces (2005) Environmental Science and Technology, 39 (17), pp. 6371-6377.
2. Rothstein SN, Federspiel WJ, Little SR. Implementing a Predictive Model for Drug Release from a PLGA Matrix, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Fall Meeting; 2006; San Francisco California. 3. Vigeant MA, Rothstein SN, Cacciatore J. Removal of adhered bacteria by surfactant and shear, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Fall Meeting; 2005; Cincinnati Ohio.
Additional Conference Attendance Society for Biomaterials, Annual Spring Meeting 2006, Pittsburgh, PA American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Annual Fall Meeting 2004, Austin, TX.
Department of Bioengineering Graduate Seminars Center for Vaccine Research Seminars
Bicentennial Alumni Faculty Fellow Departments of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Immunology The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine University of Pittsburgh |
Biotechnology Program
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