Location
Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall
Start Date
9-30-2021 12:45 PM
Description
Blindness represents a substantial burden to the healthcare system. However, delivering therapeutics to the eye is a challenge on multiple levels. Rapid clearance of medications in eye drops requires that they be applied frequently, but patient compliance with eye drop regimens is poor (e.g., glaucoma patients only take roughly one-half of their doses correctly). In addition, drug penetration to the back of the eye following topical administration is limited due to multiple ocular barriers. On the other hand, the blood-retinal barrier limits the delivery of drugs into the eye following systemic administration. In this talk, I will present a long-lasting polymeric drug delivery system engineered to enhance ocular therapeutic activity through prolonging drug half-life, releasing drugs in a controlled fashion, and eliminating toxic side effects for improved treatment of eye diseases.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Qingguo Xu is Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics, Ophthalmology, Massey Cancer Center, Biomedical Engineering, and the Center for Pharmaceutical Engineering at the Virginia Commonwealth University. He received B.E. and M.E. in Polymer Materials and Engineering from Tianjin University, and D.Phil. in Materials Science from University of Oxford in 2009. Dr. Xu was a postdoc fellow in the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University before he moved to VCU as an Assistant Professor in 2017. He has experience in materials science, drug delivery, nanotechnology, and physicochemical characterization of mucosal and tissue barriers to drug delivery systems. A significant portion of his current work has involved the design and development of new methods for safe, effective drug delivery to treat various eye diseases, lung infection, and opioid use disorder. He is the PI and co-PI of a NIH/NEI R01, a NIH/NIDA UG3 and a FDA grant with total funding of ~ $5 million. Dr. Xu has authored about 30 research papers and 10 patents and patent applications, 3 of which have been licensed to companies for commercialization. These efforts have led to awards and recognitions, including VCU Blick Scholar (2019), Young Investigator of CRS Ocular Delivery (2019), Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Award (2018), AAPS-Genentech Innovation in Biotechnology Award (2013), EBAA/Richard Lindstrom Award (2013).
Long-Lasting Nanotherapeutics for the Treatment of Eye Diseases
Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall
Blindness represents a substantial burden to the healthcare system. However, delivering therapeutics to the eye is a challenge on multiple levels. Rapid clearance of medications in eye drops requires that they be applied frequently, but patient compliance with eye drop regimens is poor (e.g., glaucoma patients only take roughly one-half of their doses correctly). In addition, drug penetration to the back of the eye following topical administration is limited due to multiple ocular barriers. On the other hand, the blood-retinal barrier limits the delivery of drugs into the eye following systemic administration. In this talk, I will present a long-lasting polymeric drug delivery system engineered to enhance ocular therapeutic activity through prolonging drug half-life, releasing drugs in a controlled fashion, and eliminating toxic side effects for improved treatment of eye diseases.
Comments
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